Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has revealed that the United States revoked his visa and barred him from entering the country.
The 91-year-old literary icon said the US Consulate in Nigeria had requested his passport for the visa to be cancelled in person, citing “new information.”
Addressing journalists in Lagos, Soyinka described the invitation as a “curious love letter” and advised organisations planning to invite him to the US “not to waste their time.” The US embassy declined to comment on the matter. Soyinka, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, renounced his US permanent residency in 2016 after Donald Trump’s election victory, publicly destroying his green card in protest.
Soyinka linked the visa revocation to his longstanding criticism of former President Trump, suggesting it may have been triggered by his recent comparison of Trump to Uganda’s late dictator Idi Amin. “When I called Donald Trump Idi Amin in white face, I thought I was paying him a compliment,” he quipped. The development comes amid sweeping changes to US visa policies affecting Nigerians and citizens of other African nations, reducing visa validity to single-entry permits lasting only three months. Despite the setback, Soyinka—who has held teaching roles at US universities for over three decades—appeared unfazed, jokingly asking reporters, “How old am I?” when asked if he planned to return to the US.