Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Tuesday, announced that the United States of America has revoked his visa, making his entry into the country impossible for now.
Soyinka who made the disclosure in a media parley held at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery, Freedom Park, Lagos Island, said he was unaware of any wrongdoing that could have warranted the revocation.
“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.
The reason for the visa revocation remains unclear, as Soyinka himself said he was still in the dark about it.
In recent times, the US government has taken steps to curb the influx of migrants into the country.
According to Soyinka, the US Consulate informed him of the revocation in a letter dated October 23, 2025.
“This letter serves as official notification by the United States Consulate General in Lagos that the non-immigrant visa listed below has been revoked pursuant to the authority contained in U.S. Department of State regulations,” part of the letter, shown to our correspondent by Soyinka, read.
The letter was issued by the NIV Section of the Consulate.
The Nobel Laureate expressed confusion over the development, saying, “I’m still looking into my past history… I don’t have any past criminal record or even a felony or misdemeanour to qualify for the revocation.
“I’ve started looking back—have I ever misbehaved toward the United States of America? Do I have a history? Have I been convicted? Have I gone against the law anywhere?”
Media reports had earlier quoted Soyinka as saying he would not honour an invitation by the US Consulate in Nigeria for a visa re-interview, which was scheduled for Thursday, September 11.
He reportedly made the declaration in an interview with PM News, a Lagos medium, while reacting to the recent invitation sent by the American Consulate to Nigerians holding B1/B2 visas, asking them to appear for what it called a “visa interview.”
Soyinka’s visa is classified as B1/B2—a temporary, non-immigrant visa for travel to the United States for business (B-1) or tourism (B-2).
“I would like to begin by stressing the fact that, for me, this is not a personal issue. I have no idea how you got to know. By the way, I also received the letter, which at first, I thought was fake. I thought it came from scammers who prey on those eager to get visas elsewhere, promising to deliver them for a certain amount. I thought they had simply picked my name among others, knowing there was a list of invitees.
“So, at first, I thought it was advance-fee fraud because I had never received that kind of letter from that or any other embassy. I even thought that maybe AI had been generating generic letters. It was very strange.
“So, by the time I came to terms with the fact that the letter was genuine, my mind went to my relationship with individual ambassadors, Consuls General, and Cultural Attachés. As you know, it has always been a courteous relationship,” Soyinka told PM News in September.
Soyinka was considered a tacit supporter of the President Bola Tinubu candidacy in the highly flawed 2023 presidential election. While he often took on Peter Obi, the presidential candidate Labour Party (LP) in the election and his team of supporters, known as Obidients, he did not utter a word in criticizing Tinubu, even when allegations of certificate scandal and identity crisis against him ran high.
Equally, when Nigerians, especially the youth faulted the procedure of the conduct of the poll and controversial emergence of Tinubu as the winner, Soyinka kept to himself.
