The famous Nigerian author and the winner of 1986 Nobel Prize Wole Soyinka has replied to the united state of America following his visa cancellation saying “I’m very content”.
Soyinka while speaking at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery in Lagos said a message sent to him by Nigerian US consulate asking him to visit the facility for his physical Visa cancellation is the most humorous request he have ever received.
Soyinka read aloud from a notice he recently received from the local US consulate, asking him to arrive with his passport so that his visa could be nullified.
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“Bring your visa to the US Consulate General Lagos for physical cancellation. To schedule an appointment, please email — et cetera, et cetera — in advance of the appointment,” Soyinka said, skimming the letter.
Closing his laptop, the author joked with the audience that he did not have time to fulfil the request.
“I like people who have a sense of humour, and this is one of the most humorous sentences or requests I’ve had of my life,” Soyinka said.
“Would any of you like to volunteer to take my place? Take it for me? I’m a little bit busy and rushed.”
Soyinka’s visa was issued last year, under US President Joe Biden. But in the intervening time, a new president has taken office: Donald Trump.
Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a crackdown on immigration, and his administration has removed visas and green cards from individuals whom it sees as out of step with the Republican president’s policies.
However, the author is not the first Nobel winner to see his US visa stripped away in the wake of Trump’s return to office, despite the US president’s own ambitions of earning the international prize.
Oscar Arias, a former president of Costa Rica and the winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize, also found his visa cancelled in April.