By Duchess Ifeoluwa 

Nigeria’s Nobel Prize-winning writer and political activist, Wole Soyinka, says the United States has revoked his non-immigrant visa, effectively barring him from entry.

The 91-year-old made the announcement at a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday.

Soyinka told reporters at the Kongi’s Harvest Gallery in Freedom Park that he had received a letter from the United States Consulate General Lagos dated October 23, informing him of the revocation of his B1/B2 visa, a classification used for temporary business and tourism travel.

The letter stated the visa was being cancelled because “additional information became available” after it was issued.

“I have no visa. I am banned, obviously, from the United States. And if you want to see me, you know where to find me,” Soyinka said, addressing those who had invited him to US events.

He said he was unaware of any misconduct on his part, and noted he had no criminal record or misdemeanour to justify the revocation.

“I’m still looking into my past history,” he added.

Soyinka, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, has often served as a visiting professor at Ivy League universities in the United States and revoked his own US green card in 2016 as a protest against political developments.

The US Embassy in Nigeria has not issued an official comment on the matter and no explanation has been provided to justify the visa revocation.