Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said he foresaw the mass revocation of visas and green cards by the United States long before it began, particularly under the administration of Donald Trump.
Speaking in a Facebook interview with BBC News Pidgin on Wednesday, Soyinka, whose US visa was recently withdrawn, said he had always known that Trump’s presidency would come with such policies.
According to him, “This is a petty-minded dictator, you see how he deals with his objects of hate. We saw that dark side of the American side. There were more killings, extrajudicial killings by the police of black people, of minorities, during that build-up, during the campaign, and on account of hate rhetoric, the hate rhetoric of this individual.
“I saw it and I said, listen very carefully — and you can go and check this –I said, ‘When that man comes to power, the first thing he will do is cancel even the green cards’.”
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Soyinka’s remarks come at a time of renewed tension between Nigeria and the United States after Trump recently labelled Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern,” citing alleged Christian genocide. The former US President also threatened military intervention if Nigeria fails to curb the killings — a statement that has triggered global criticism and anxiety.
The Nobel laureate, who has never hidden his disapproval of Trump’s leadership style, once vowed to destroy his Green Card if Trump won the 2016 election — a vow he later fulfilled. “I have already done it, I have disengaged (from the United States). I have done what I said I would do,” he said back then at an education conference in Johannesburg.
He added, “I had a horror of what is to come with Trump… I threw away the (green) card, and I have relocated, and I’m back to where I have always been” — referring to Nigeria.
In July 2025, the U.S. Department of State announced changes to its visa policy for Nigerians, restricting most non-diplomatic visas to single-entry status with a three-month validity period.
Soyinka later disclosed during a Lagos media briefing that his B1/B2 visa had been revoked by the U.S. Embassy. A letter from the Consulate dated October 23 requested that he return the document for “physical cancellation,” which he described as “a joke.”
The letter read in part: “If you have plans to travel to the United States, you must apply again to re-establish your qualifications for a new non-immigrant visa.”
