The Trump administration has revoked the visa of Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel laureate and one of Africa’s most celebrated literary figures, following his outspoken criticism of Donald Trump.
Soyinka, who became the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, has long been known for his fierce defence of democracy and human rights. A playwright, poet, and essayist, Soyinka has taught at major US universities including Harvard, Cornell, and Yale, and remains an influential voice in global political discourse.
“I want to assure the consulate … that I’m very content with the revocation of my visa,” Soyinka told a news conference on Tuesday.
The 91-year-old writer, who previously held permanent US residency, famously destroyed his green card in protest after Trump’s first election victory in 2016. He suggested that his recent comments likening Trump to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin may have provoked the US authorities’ decision.
Soyinka said that earlier this year the US consulate in Lagos had summoned him for a visa reassessment interview, which he refused to attend. A letter from the consulate confirmed the cancellation of his visa under regulations that allow American officials to revoke a non-immigrant visa “at any time, in his or her discretion”.
Reading the letter aloud to journalists in Lagos, Soyinka jokingly referred to it as a “rather curious love letter from an embassy”, adding that organisations planning to invite him to the US “should not waste their time”.
“I have no visa. I am banned,” he declared.
The US embassy in Abuja declined to comment on individual cases, citing confidentiality policies.
The visa cancellation comes as part of the Trump administration’s wider immigration crackdown, which has included the revocation of visas for outspoken foreign students and activists, particularly those supporting Palestinian rights.
Soyinka reiterated that his comparison of Trump to Idi Amin was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, saying: “Idi Amin was a man of international stature, a statesman, so when I called Donald Trump Idi Amin, I thought I was paying him a compliment. He’s been behaving like a dictator.”
Soyinka’s most famous works include Death and the King’s Horseman and The Man Died, both classics of postcolonial literature. His latest novel, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth (2021), a satire on corruption in Nigeria, was described by the author as his “gift to Nigeria”.
The Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies have led to widespread arrests, the deployment of National Guard troops in cities, and tighter restrictions on legal entry into the country.
