LAGOS, Nigeria — The United States government has revoked the non-immigrant visa of Professor Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel laureate in literature.
In a letter dated Friday, October 23, 2025, and signed by the US Consulate-General in Lagos, Soyinka was directed to present his passport to the consulate for physical cancellation of the visa.
The renowned scholar disclosed the development on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, during a media parley in Lagos, where he read excerpts from the official correspondence.
“This letter serves as official notification by the United States Consulate General in Lagos that the nonimmigrant visa listed below has been revoked pursuant to the authority contained in U.S. Department of State regulations 22 CFR 41.122 and is no longer valid for application for entry into the United States,” the letter read in part.
The letter also stated that the revocation was based on “additional information” that became available to the US authorities after the visa was issued.
Soyinka said he had no knowledge of any specific offence that could have prompted the US government’s decision.
He explained that he had only applied for the visa after receiving a letter from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding a tax audit.
“My trip was to resolve the tax issue. I wanted to prevent a situation where the US might advertise me as a ‘tax dodger’ to the world,” he said.
The Nobel laureate, 90, recalled that he had earlier discarded his US green card in protest after Donald Trump became president in 2016, describing Trump as “Idi Amin in white face.”
“I have written a lot of plays about Idi Amin. Maybe it is about time I also write about Donald Trump — literary compliment. Maybe he would reconsider and restore my visa,” Soyinka quipped.
He added that he had no hard feelings about the revocation.
“I want to reassure the US Consulate that I’m very content with the revocation of my visa. Individual citizens are free to interact with me,” he said.
Soyinka’s visa saga comes nearly a decade after his symbolic renunciation of US residency in 2016.
At the time, he had vowed to destroy his US green card if Donald Trump won the presidential election — a pledge he fulfilled soon after Trump’s victory.
“The moment they announce his victory, I will cut my green card myself and start packing up,” Soyinka had said during a lecture at Oxford University’s Ertegun House.
Soyinka later confirmed that he had “thrown away” his green card, describing the act as a protest against Trump’s “xenophobic rhetoric targeting Blacks, Hispanics, and Muslims.”
He obtained his green card during a political sabbatical at Emory University in the 1990s, facilitated by the late US President Jimmy Carter.
The US government permits lawful permanent residents to voluntarily abandon their status by filing Form I-407 or demonstrating intent to relinquish residency.
The recent visa revocation marks a renewed strain between the celebrated Nigerian writer and the US authorities.
Although Soyinka maintains that he remains open to global collaboration, he said his focus now is firmly on Nigeria and the African continent.
“People in the United States who are expecting me for their event should not waste their time. I have no desire,” he said.
