Nigerian nobel-winning author visa revoked after trump comments

Nobel Prize-winning laureate, Wole Soyinka, stated that his non-resident US visa allowing him to enter the country was rejected on October 28th, AP News reported.

Soyinka is a Nigerian author, playwright and poet who has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty-five plays and five memoirs. The Sahel author is a highly regarded writer, being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.

Despite having taught in the US for many years and previously having held a green card, Soyinka had his non-resident via to enter the US rejected. Soyinka believes this happened due to his recent comments criticising of US President Donald Trump. In 2017, he reportedly destroyed his green card as an act of protest following Trump’s first inauguration.

In an official statement made by Soyinka, “It’s not about me, I’m not really interested in going back to the United States, but a principle is involved. Human beings deserve to be treated decently wherever they are.”

Although Soyinka was told he would need to reapply for a visa if he wished to enter the US, he described his visa being revoked as a sign of a wider issue relating to Trump’s immigration policies rather than an individual error on his behalf.

Trump’s increasing hostility towards migration has been a well-documented phenomenon, with the new third-country deportation framework allowing US authorities to deport migrants to certain countries if their home nation’s repatriation is delayed or refused. With countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and Libya being deportation destinations under the scheme, there are increasing concerns of human right violations, denial of due process and abuse. These concerns came to fruition when a Jamaican man was deported to Eswatini despite Jamaica being willing to accept his return. The existing climate of migration-based discourse then culminated in subsequent protests and government crack downs across the US.

Nonetheless, Soyinka’s suspicions regarding his visa’s revocation reflect concerns faced by many in the US currently. While there has been no official reasons given as to why Soyinka’s visa was rejected, the fact that someone of his prominence faced a visa revocation is an unusual attention-drawing event.

AP News, Maghrebi.org