US Revokes Wole Soyinka’s Visa, Nearly a Decade After He Renounced Green Card Over Trump
Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has been denied entry into the United States after the U.S. government formally revoked his visa, a move analysts suggest may be linked to his highly publicized renunciation of U.S. residency following Donald Trump’s election in 2016.
Soyinka announced the revocation on Tuesday during a media parley at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery in Lagos, stating that his entry into the country is currently impossible.
“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,” Soyinka told journalists. “I have no visa; I am banned, obviously, from the United States.”
The literary icon explained that he received a formal notification from the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos, dated October 23, 2025. The notification stated that his visa had been revoked pursuant to the authority contained in U.S. Department of State regulations.
Read Also:
While the exact reason cited for the revocation remains unclear to the professor, Politics Digest reports that the decision revives the long-standing controversy stemming from his dramatic protest against the election of Donald Trump.
In the build-up to the 2016 U.S. election, Professor Soyinka—who had lived and taught in the U.S. for decades as a green card holder—vowed to destroy his residency card if Trump won.
“The moment they announce his victory, I will cut my green card myself and start packing up,” he declared at Oxford University at the time.
Following Trump’s victory, Soyinka fulfilled his promise, describing the act of destroying the card as “cathartic” and a symbolic protest against what he viewed as a threat to fundamental freedoms.
Nearly a decade later, the consequences of that symbolic renunciation appear to have resurfaced. Soyinka, who now resides primarily in Nigeria, said he remains baffled by the latest move. “I am still in the dark about the reason,” he concluded, adding, “But until further notice, the United States is off my travel map.”
