Lagos, October 30, 2025—Wole Soyinka, Africa’s most honored living author, and recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, has made an on-the-record statement that the Trump administration revoked his travel visa this month. Soyinka’s story met with national headlines over perspectives involving freedom of speech, international cultural exchange, and ongoing unwinding of US immigration policy.
Now age 91, the Nigerian emerged calling for respect and dignity for visitors regardless of their beliefs.
What Happened? A Cancellation and its Context
In Lagos, at a press conference, Soyinka said his US travel visa, a non-resident visa administered jointly by Nigeria and the US originally issued in the spring of 2024, was officially canceled after a letter from the State Department. The letter dated October 23, indicated no specific reasoning to revoke other than “additional information.” Soyinka related that he had been instructed to return the visa for “physical cancellation” and, if he wanted to apply for another US visa, he would be required to re-apply.
The cancellation occurred after Soyinka had already received a request to return to the US consulate for a “follow-up interview” an appointment he respectfully declined, adding that the process regarding his visa and the level of general confusion was prevalent in the growing environment of restrictive policies specifically targeting Nigerian applicants. This recent cancellation comes at a time for increased scrutiny in general for Nigerians who want to apply for US visas, especially since the US government decided in summer 2025 against accepting most new non-immigrant visas for Nigerians, allowing the applicant only a single entry and up to three months entry—previously allowing a multi-year, multiple entry visa.
The Political Context: Critique of Trump
Wole Soyinka downplayed the personal implications: “I am not especially interested in going back to the United States,” but suggested a more principled concern. He indicated that his long history of criticisms against President Trump, while he was President and afterwards, will have affected how the State Department saw the situation. Soyinka famously destroyed his US green card in protest after Trump’s election in 2016, and recently intensified his criticism, comparing Trump to Uganda’s notorious dictator Idi Amin: “Idi Amin in white face,” he joked, expressing his concern about what he perceives as the growing tendency toward authoritarianism in US leadership.
The visa incident is unfolding in a period of increased visa scrutiny for Nigerian nationals; the United States moved to restrict most new non-immigrant visas for Nigerian nationals to single entry and three months duration in summer 2025 from previous more generous multi-year and multiple entry options.
A Broader Principle: Respect and Dignity
“It’s not about me; it’s not a matter of my identity; there’s a principle here. Everybody should have the right to dignity and respect, in any environment,” Soyinka told reporters. He counseled cultural institutions choosing to plan a visit to the USA that “they should not waste their time,” while humorously noting that his passport “had an accident,” a reference to his previous green card protest.
The US Embassy in Nigeria did not go into details regarding the cancellation of his visa, citing privacy issues regarding individual cases. State Department sources said that Soyinka was free to reapply for a visa and declined to provide further comment on the situation.
International and Cultural Fallout
The news drew immediate condemnation from literary institutions and those advocating for free expression. “PEN America considers this condition abrupt, arbitrary and further undermining free expression, and undermining and stifling U.S. cultural leadership in international exchange,” a statement by PEN America read. “The revocation of Soyinka’s visa reduces, if not blatantly denies, the U.S. meaningful global engagement.”
Soyinka’s visa cancellation has drawn attention beyond Nigeria, with commentators from Africa and the West discussing just and broader trends of tightening requirements for visas or cross-border travel, the imposition of borders, and other avenues of cultural gatekeeping. Soyinka remains defiant: “I have no visa. I am banned from entering the United States.” In repeating this statement, he affirms that this matter is not about crossing borders but about a respect for human rights; “If you want to see me, you know where to find me.”
A Life of Principles and Protest
This latest incident is but one episode in a life defined by artistic achievement and principled dissent. Soyinka became the first African literature laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986; since that time, he has dedicated the entirety of lifespan and commitment to fighting authoritarianism, repression, oppression, and injustice—at home and abroad. He has spent decades engaged in intellectual work as a playwright, essayist, and citizen of the world; he is a singular and revolutionary figure of art and literature in the global canon.
Just in June, Soyinka was presented the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, one of Nigeria’s highest national honors, as recognition and reward for his role in the country’s pro-democracy movement. Nevertheless, Soyinka asserts, honors are not personal; they belong to, “a vast movement” towards justice.
“I Value My Freedom”
Even with travel bans in place, Soyinka’s voice remains free and unyielding. He is still writing, speaking out and advocating for the free flow of ideas, “Freedom,” he said this week, “has never been merely a word to me: it is my principle.”
For many, Soyinka’s visa cancellation is a harbinger of a more restrictive period in global mobility and an indication that even the most highly regarded thinkers can still be caught up in the crosswinds of policy and politics.
