Nigeria's President-elect, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari has been named among world's most influential persons by the widely read magazines, Times.
Also making the list from Nigeria are former Education Minister and Bring Back Our Girls campaigner, Mrs. Oby Eziekwezili; author of popular narratives, Chimamanda Ngozi-Adigichie.
A surprise listing as earlier stated by BBN is that of the leader of the deadly sect, Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau whose name also made it to the list of the influential persons.
The magazine also honoured the Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie.
TIME's list of 100 most influential people in the world is published annually, to honour leaders, icons, artists and pioneers in different endeavours across the world. The new release is the 12th edition, listing the most influential people in the world whose works are changing the world, regardless of the consequences of their actions.
In a brief profile of Mr. Buhari, written by TIME's African Bureau Chief, Aryn Baker, the magazine said the former army general made history by becoming the first candidate to oust a sitting Nigerian President through the ballot box.
"Now he has to live up to voters' expectations," the magazine said.
"From battling the Boko Haram insurgency to tackling endemic corruption, Buhari has many challenges ahead.
"The greatest may be overcoming his past as a military ruler who seized power in 1983. Already the born-again democrat is demonstrating the inclusivity necessary to lead a nation riven by ethnic and religious tensions."
Furthermore, the magazine said without Mrs. Ezekwesili, the awareness created about the abducted Chibok girls would have taken even more time.
"It has been a year, and the girls (Chibok girls) haven't been rescued, but she has made a difference by speaking about it. Not just speaking but shouting.
"Some people will say she is too loudmouthed. The loud mouth is needed. People hear it," TIME said.
"Even before she became the champion of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, Ezekwesili was already a leading voice in Nigerian politics."
Similarly, TIME also said Adichie's greatest power is as "a creator of characters who struggle profoundly to understand their place in the world".
Other names included in this year's list which would hit the newsstands Friday, are US President Barack
Obama, Pope Francis, Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Raul Castro of Cuba and Janet Yellen of the American Reserve Bank, among several others.
The magazine described Shekau as the most violent killer Nigerians have ever seen, and as the "scourge of Africa" by Gen. Carter Ham(retd.), a former Commander of US Africa Command from 2011 to 2013. It concluded that the Boko Haram leader's latest action—pledging allegiance to ISIS, may finally summon a United States' response.