The United States revoked the B1/B2 visa of 91-year-old Nigerian Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka on October 23, 2025, after he declined a required re-interview on September 9, with the consulate citing unspecified additional information.

Soyinka announced the decision at a media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery, Freedom Park, Lagos Island, expressing confusion over the lack of explanation and affirming his clean record, while noting he could reapply but has no immediate plans.

“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.

“I have no visa; I am banned, obviously, from the United States. And if you want to see me, you know where to find me,” he told journalists.

He opined that he development may not be unconnected to his past criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump, whom he once described as “the white version of Idi Amin.”

The Nobel Prize Winner clarified that he bears no grudge against American citizens, but expressed deep concern over what he described as the increasing hostility and double standards of the U.S. government toward Africans and immigrants

 The revocation occurs amid U.S. policy shifts limiting Nigerian non-immigrant visas to single-entry with three-month validity under the Trump administration.