Wole Soyinka calls Trump “petty-minded dictator” following US visa revocation

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has described US President Donald Trump as a “petty-minded dictator”, criticising his administration’s alleged treatment of minorities and the rise in extrajudicial killings during his tenure.

In an interview with the BBC, Soyinka recalled his early warnings about Trump’s presidency, saying he had predicted the cancellation of green cards and the targeting of minorities due to Trump’s “hate rhetoric.”

Last month, the US government revoked Soyinka’s non-immigrant visa following his visa application, which came shortly after he received the IRS letter about the tax audit.

“I said, ‘When that man comes to power, the first thing he will do is cancel even the green cards,’” Soyinka said.

“This is a petty-minded dictator; you see how he deals with his objects of hate. We saw that dark side of the American side.

“There were more killings — extrajudicial killings — by the police of black people, of minorities, during the campaign, and on account of hate rhetoric, the hate rhetoric of this individual.”

The 91-year-old playwright recounted how he destroyed his Green Card after Trump’s election in 2016, explaining that he did not want to wait for a forced reinterview or sudden cancellation.

“I said I’m not going to wait to be told to come for a reinterview or simply told, ‘Get out! The green card is cancelled!’ That’s all,” Soyinka said.

“People failed to understand. Even though I said it, people failed to accept it. I said I don’t like to be kicked out; I like to kick myself out — it’s more dignified.”

Soyinka also revealed that shortly after Trump was re-elected in November 2024, he received a letter from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) notifying him of an upcoming audit of his tax returns spanning the previous five years.

“After he took office, I got a letter from the IRS telling me to report for an audit. The coincidence for me was very impressive,” he said.

“Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it, not long after that, maybe by accident or maybe it’s related or not, I got a letter from the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America saying that an audit of my tax return was about to take place, going back about five years.

“So I went to the embassy to say this is the letter I just received from the Internal Revenue Service. My Green Card is no longer usable.

“I don’t want to be advertised as a tax dodger owing the United States money and being chased all over the world with letters and police, and I said I needed to go in and see the audit, and that’s exactly what happened.”