U.S. Revokes visa of Africa’s first Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, limiting Laureate privileges

Speaking at a media briefing at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery, his residence in Lagos, Nigeria, Soyinka said he was unaware of any action that could have prompted the visa revocation.

“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. 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 shared a copy of a letter from the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos instructing him to bring his passport for the physical cancellation of the visa.

Dated October 23, 2025, the letter stated that “additional information became available” after the visa was issued.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In September, Soyinka declined an invitation from the U.S. Consulate for a visa reinterview scheduled for September 11, describing the request as “strange and bizarre.” The invitation targeted Nigerians holding B1/B2 visas, asking them to appear for a so-called visa interview.

“At first, I thought it was advance-fee fraud because I had never received that kind of letter from any embassy. I even thought that maybe AI had been generating generic letters,” Soyinka said.

He also criticised the date of the proposed interview, September 11, calling it a day of global significance and reflection. “To me, 9/11 should be regarded as a day of national mourning, of atonement by the Consulate of the United States. They should close down offices on that day, not to keep inviting people to come and have their visas taken away,” he said.

Soyinka’s visa was classified as B1/B2, a temporary, non-immigrant visa for business or tourism. In July, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria announced that Nigerians seeking non-immigrant visas would now receive single-entry, three-month permits, replacing the previous up-to-five-year multiple-entry visas.

The Nigerian professor who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 and served as Goldwin Smith Professor of African Studies and Theatre Arts at Cornell University emphasized that he has no intention of reapplying for a U.S. visa. “The question of going to such an interview is totally out of consideration,” he said.

In 2016, he renounced his U.S. green card in protest against the election of Donald Trump and has since remained a vocal critic of American policies under subsequent administrations.

He likened the visa revocation to “Idi Amin in Whiteface,” referencing the Ugandan dictator to underscore his view of the action as arbitrary and authoritarian.

Soyinka confirmed again that he will not reapply for a U.S. visa, adding, “If individuals wish to see me, they know where to find me.” He reaffirmed his commitment to advocating for human rights and political freedoms, regardless of his visa status.