LAGOS - The United States consulate in Lagos has revoked the visa of Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate said.
"I want to assure the consulate... that I'm very content with the revocation of my visa," Soyinka, a famed 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, and speculated that his recent comments comparing Trump to former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin might have struck a nerve.
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 from the consulate addressed to Soyinka, 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.
He jokingly called it a "rather curious love letter from an embassy", while telling any organisations hoping to invite him to the United States "not to waste their time".
"I have no visa. I am banned," Soyinka said.