Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says US visa revoked

The United States consulate in Lagos, Nigeria, has revoked the visa of writer Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate said Tuesday.

"I want to assure the consulate... that I'm very content with the revocation of my visa," Soyinka, a famed Nigerian playwright and author who won the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, told a news conference.

Soyinka previously held permanent residency in the United States, though he destroyed his green card after Donald Trump's first election in 2016.

He has remained critical of the US president, who is now serving his second term.

Soyinka said earlier this year that the US consulate in Lagos had called him in for an interview to re-assess his visa.

According to a letter addressed to Soyinka from the consulate, seen by AFP, officials cited US State Department regulations that allow "a consular officer, the Secretary, or a Department official to whom the Secretary has delegated this authority... to revoke a nonimmigrant visa at any time, in his or her discretion".

Reading the letter aloud to journalists in Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital, Soyinka said that officials asked him to bring his passport to the consulate so that his visa could be cancelled in-person.

The 91-year-old playwright behind "Death and the King's Horseman" has taught and been awarded honours from top US universities including Harvard and Cornell.

The Trump administration has made visa revocations a hallmark of its wider crackdown on immigration, notably targeting university students who were outspoken about Palestinian rights.

The US embassy in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, did not respond to a request for comment.