US Revokes Wole Soyinka’s Visa02-APR-2024.

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has revealed that his American visa has been revoked permanently by the United States government.

Soyinka, who disclosed this during a media parley in Lagos on Tuesday, said he received the revocation letter from the US Consulate on Thursday, October 23, 2025.

Reading the letter aloud at the event themed “Unending Saga: Idi Amin In Whiteface!” held at the Freedom Park, Lagos, Soyinka suggested that the decision appeared to be linked to his long-standing criticism of the policies of US President, Donald Trump.

The letter from the US Consulate, which he read publicly, partly stated, “Dear Mr Soyinka, this letter serves as official notification of the United States Consulate that the non-immigrant visa listed below has been revoked in pursuant to the Department of State Regulations 22 CFR 41.122 and is no longer valid for application into the United States. Additional information became available after the below visa was issued. This revocation refers only to the visa listed below.

Name of visa holder: SOYINKA, WOLE
Date and place of birth: 13-JUL-1934, NIGERIA
Visa classification(symbol): B1/B2
Date and place of visa issuance: 02-APR-2024, Lagos.”

The playwright, who resides in Nigeria, insisted that he bore no resentment over the matter.

“I will continue to welcome any American to my home if they have anything legitimate to do with me,” he said.

Soyinka stressed that his criticism of world leaders, including Donald Trump, was rooted in his role as a global citizen committed to speaking against racism, injustice, and bad governance.

It will be recalled that in December 2016, shortly after Trump’s electoral victory, Soyinka publicly tore up his US Green Card in protest, declaring his disapproval of the new administration.

Wole Soyinka Rejects U.S. Consulate’s Invitation for Visa Reinterview, Calls It “Strange and Bizarre”.

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has declined an invitation by the U.S. Consulate in Nigeria for a visa reinterview scheduled for September 11.

“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 have received the letter, which at first I thought was a fake. I thought it was these scammers who sort of prey on those eager to get visas elsewhere, with promise to deliver visas for a certain amount guaranteed.”

“So, at the beginning, I thought it was advance fee fraud because I had never received that kind of letter from that or any other embassy. I thought that maybe AI has been generating generic letters. It was very strange.

So, by the time I came to terms with the fact that this letter is genuine, my mind just went to my relationship with individual ambassadors, Consul-Generals and Cultural Attachés. As you know, it’s always been a courteous relationship,” he explained.

“Sincerely, I have more important things to do than chase visas for places I don’t want to go to and where I am not wanted. So the question of going to such an interview is totally out of consideration.”

“In addition, I happen to be a little bit superstitious of being given a significant date, not just for the United States but the rest of the world. I’m talking about 9/11. This is a day which I have always considered very critical for the United States especially. To me, 9/11 should be regarded as a day of national mourning, of atonement by the Consulate of the United States.

“They should close down offices on that day, not to keep inviting people to come and have their visas taken away. It should be a day of reflection, of serious, deep thinking… If they don’t shut down, at least I would shut down my relationship with them on that day. Because I’m very superstitious. I’m not going anywhere near there on 9/11. I will be airborne somewhere,” Soyinka said.

“The United States, for instance, has a ‘white Idi Amin’ at the helm of affairs.”

Oshiomhole Blames Buhari-Era Excessive Money Printing for Naira Collapse.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole has attributed the sharp decline of the naira to excessive money printing under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Speaking at a Progressives Governors Forum event in Benin City, the Edo North senator criticized the Central Bank’s use of the Ways and Means provision, saying it led to unchecked currency printing and the naira’s subsequent devaluation.

Under the Ways and Means policy, the federal government is allowed to borrow from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to manage fiscal shortfalls. However, Oshiomhole alleged the Buhari government abused this by printing over ₦31 trillion, not backed by revenue or resources.

He likened the practice to the economic mismanagement seen in Zimbabwe and Idi Amin’s Uganda, where excessive currency printing led to hyperinflation and the collapse of national currencies.

“They called it ‘Ways and Means’—but in reality, it was just printing money to meet illusionary needs,” Oshiomhole said. “This reckless policy is why the naira collapsed.”

He added that the root causes of today’s inflation and exchange rate crisis stem from this fiscal mismanagement, a burden now left for President Bola Tinubu to resolve.

Oshiomhole also criticized Nigeria’s unsustainable borrowing habits, saying, “We were borrowing like fish drinks water,” and praised the current administration for halting the practice.

In 2024, the Senate set up an ad-hoc committee to probe the CBN’s use of Ways and Means and its Anchor Borrowers Programme.