Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says he foresaw a wave of visa and green card cancellations by the United States once Donald Trump assumed office, a development he links to the president’s stance and policies.
In an interview published on BBC News Pidgin on Wednesday, the acclaimed writer, whose U.S. visa was recently revoked, said he believed from the outset that “when that man comes to power, the first thing he will do is cancel even the green cards.”
Soyinka described Trump as “a petty-minded dictator,” citing rising extrajudicial killings of minorities and the campaign’s “hate rhetoric” as indicators of what was to come.
The revelations come amid diplomatic tensions between Nigeria and the United States, which recently redesignated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” under Trump’s watch and threatened military intervention over alleged violence against Christians in the country.
Soyinka, previously holding a U.S. green card which he destroyed in protest of Trump’s 2016 election, confirmed his visa had been revoked by the U.S. Embassy in Lagos as of October 23, 2025 but said he would not reapply.
“Visas are a privilege, not a right,” the U.S. Mission in Nigeria stated in response, while citing confidentiality laws surrounding visa revocations.
Soyinka said he had left the U.S. by choice rather than await forced removal, declaring: “I would rather kick myself out than be kicked.”
He also recalled receiving a tax-audit letter from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service after Trump’s election, a coincidence he considers noteworthy given his prior warnings.
