Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has revealed that his United States visa was permanently revoked after he refused to attend a revalidation interview requested by the American Consulate in Lagos.
Speaking at a media parley at Freedom Park on Tuesday, Soyinka said the cancellation followed his earlier decision to stop using his American green card in protest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, which he described as divisive and discriminatory.
After that symbolic act, he began travelling to the U.S. with a B1/B2 visa. But on October 23, 2025, he received a formal letter from the consulate inviting him to appear for a final interview so his visa could be stamped as “cancelled permanently.” Soyinka declined.
“If they wish to cancel it, that is their business,” he said. “I will not go there to help them do it.”
Despite the revocation, Soyinka said he bore no ill will toward Americans. “I will continue to welcome any American to my home if they have anything legitimate to do with me,” he added.
A Past Marked by Minor Misunderstandings
Recounting his earlier encounters with U.S. authorities, Soyinka described two incidents that were, in his words, “minor and harmless.”
The first occurred decades ago when he arrived from the U.K. carrying some chilli peppers in his pocket to keep warm. U.S. customs officials fined him $25 for failing to declare agricultural produce. “It was a harmless mistake,” he said, laughing.
The second happened in the 1970s at Chicago Airport when he confronted an immigration officer who made a racist comment. The situation escalated until the late Chief Emeka Anyaoku, then a Nigerian diplomat, intervened.
Soyinka said he did not believe those incidents were serious enough to justify the U.S. action. “They were simply misunderstandings that could happen to anyone,” he said.
He added that his relationship with the United States had long been cordial until political tensions during Trump’s administration altered the landscape.
“Silence in the face of prejudice,” Soyinka warned, “is as dangerous as the act itself.”
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