Fatimah Otunsanya
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said he predicted mass revocation of visas and green cards by the United States Government.
In an interview published by BBC News Pidgin on Facebook on Wednesday, the world-acclaimed writer, whose visa was recently revoked by the US, said he knew that once Donald Trump got into office as President, “the first thing he will do is cancel even the green cards.”
Soyinka said, “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’.”
Soyinka’s comment comes amid diplomatic tension between Nigeria and the US after Trump at the weekend designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern,” citing alleged Christian genocide in the country.
Trump, in a series of X posts, also warned that if the Nigerian government fails to stop killings, the US would intervene militarity, coming into Nigeria ‘gun-ablazing’, a comment that has generated widespread panic and pushback both locally and internationally.
Soyinka, a vocal critic of Trump, had threatened ahead of Trump’s first inauguration to tear his Green Card once Trump was sworn in, a threat the Nobel laureate has since carried out.
I have already done it, I have disengaged (from the United States). I have done what I said I would do,” Soyinka, who was 82 years old, said then on the sidelines of an education conference at the University of Johannesburg, according to AFP.
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” – meaning his homeland, Nigeria.
In July this year, the US Department of State announced an update to its non-immigrant visa policy for Nigerian citizens.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, “most non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of Nigeria will be single-entry visas with a three-month validity period.”
Soyinka had, during a media parley last Tuesday in Lagos, disclosed the revocation of his B1/B2 visa by the US Embassy.
The US Consulate announced the revocation of the visa in a letter addressed to Soyinka dated October 23, 2025.
The Consulate further requested Soyinka to bring his visa to the Lagos Embassy “for physical cancellation,” a request the Nobel laureate described as “a joke.”
While Soyinka said he did not know the reason for the revocation of his visa, NigeriaTodayTimes earlier reported that the US Mission in Nigeria clarified last that visas granted by the country are a privilege, not a right.