{"id":22544,"date":"2025-10-29T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=22544"},"modified":"2025-10-28T18:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:22:12","slug":"u-s-revokes-wole-soyinkas-visa-amid-new-restrictions-for-nigerians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/29\/u-s-revokes-wole-soyinkas-visa-amid-new-restrictions-for-nigerians\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Revokes Wole Soyinka\u2019s Visa Amid New Restrictions for Nigerians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAGOS, Nigeria (FN) \u2014 Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said the United States has revoked his visa, a move that coincides with new visa restrictions affecting Nigerian citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soyinka, 91, told reporters in Lagos that he received a letter from the U.S. Consulate on Oct. 23 notifying him that his non-immigrant visa had been permanently canceled. He said he was unaware of any specific reason for the action but acknowledged ignoring a prior invitation to attend a visa revalidation interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d Soyinka said. \u201cI have no visa; I am banned, obviously, from the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Embassy cited Section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows consular officers to revoke visas at any time. The revocation comes amid new U.S. visa rules for Nigerians, reducing visa validity from five years to three months and limiting travelers to single-entry permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soyinka, who tore up his U.S. green card in 2016 in protest of then-President Donald Trump\u2019s policies, had been traveling to the U.S. on a B1\/B2 visa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement has sparked reactions from public figures and civil society. Activist Omoyele Sowore described the revocation as \u201csad,\u201d adding that Soyinka\u2019s treatment was \u201cdisrespectful to a global icon of literature and conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigerian social commentator Japheth Omojuwa called the move \u201cunfortunate,\u201d saying it raised questions about the consistency and transparency of U.S. visa policy. \u201cIf someone of Soyinka\u2019s stature can be banned without explanation, what hope is there for ordinary Nigerians?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident has fueled speculation about a broader shift in U.S. immigration policy toward Nigeria. Soyinka suggested the action may be politically motivated, though no official explanation has been provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not going to beg for a visa,\u201d Soyinka said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t want me, that\u2019s their prerogative. But I will not be silenced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAGOS, Nigeria (FN) \u2014 Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said the United States has revoked his visa, a move that coincides with new visa restrictions affecting Nigerian citizens. Soyinka, 91, told reporters in Lagos that he received a letter from the U.S. Consulate on Oct. 23 notifying him that his non-immigrant visa had been permanently canceled. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Wole-Soyinka.jpg?fit=1600%2C1119&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22544"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22549,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22544\/revisions\/22549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}