The United States has revoked the visa of Professor Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel Prize-winning author, a development the scholar described as surprising.
At a media briefing held on Tuesday at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery, Freedom Park, Lagos Island, Prof Soyinka revealed that he received a letter dated 23 October 2025 from the US Consulate General in Lagos, notifying him that his non-immigrant visa had been revoked.
The letter states that the revocation was pursuant to US Department of State regulations, and refers to “additional information” that became available after the visa was issued.
Prof Soyinka demonstrated the letter to journalists and said he had been instructed to surrender his passport for physical cancellation of the visa.
“I have no visa; I am banned, obviously, from the United States. And if you want to see me, you know where to find me,” he told reporters.
He emphasised that he had no criminal record or misdemeanour that might justify such action. “I’m still looking into my past history … I don’t have any criminal record or even a misdemeanour to qualify for the revocation,” he said.
He added: “It is necessary for me to hold this conference so that people in the United States who are expecting me for this event or that event do not waste their time.”
Professor Soyinka, aged 91, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and has held visiting academic appointments in the United States over the years.
He once held permanent residency (a US green card), but in 2016 he publicly renounced it following Donald Trump’s election as president.
The revocation of his visa follows a broader change in US visa policy for Nigerians.
In July 2025, the US Embassy in Nigeria announced that Nigerians seeking non-immigrant visas would henceforth receive single-entry, three-month permits instead of the previous multiple-entry visas that lasted up to five years.
Earlier this year, Soyinka declined an invitation from the US Consulate for a visa “re-interview” scheduled for 11 September, which he described as “strange and bizarre.”
He also criticised the choice of the date 9/11, saying it should be a day of national mourning rather than for visa administrative procedures.
In reaction to the revocation, Soyinka suggested that the move is politically motivated, evoking strong imagery and describing it as “Idi Amin in Whiteface.”
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