Wole Soyinka Visa Reinterview: The Nobel Laureate declines U.S. Consulate’s invite for 9/11 reinterview, calling it strange, inhuman, and symbolic
Wole Soyinka Visa Reinterview invitation from the United States Consulate has sparked a wave of commentary after the Nigerian Nobel Laureate publicly rejected the summons, describing it as bizarre, untimely, and dehumanising.
In an exclusive interview with TheNEWS/PMNEWS on Tuesday, 9 September, Soyinka disclosed he had received a visa reinterview notice scheduled for Thursday, September 11 — a date he found symbolically insensitive, given its global weight.
Initially suspecting a scam, Soyinka said the letter appeared to be part of an “advance fee fraud” scheme.
However, upon confirming its authenticity, he expressed shock and concern.
“It was very strange,” he said, reflecting on his longstanding, respectful relationships with U.S. diplomatic officials.
The Wole Soyinka Visa Reinterview refusal is not merely personal.
Soyinka stressed the broader implications of such a process, describing it as potentially humiliating, especially for law-abiding citizens who have built legitimate lives abroad.
“It must be a horrible thing… horrifying, inhuman and dehumanising,” he said.
Beyond the administrative strangeness, Soyinka took issue with the date itself — September 11 — which he sees as a day of mourning and global reflection.
“I’m a bit superstitious. I’m not going anywhere near there on 9/11. No way,” he said, calling on the U.S. to treat the day with more reverence.
Soyinka also questioned the political climate behind such reinterview demands, describing the current American leadership as resembling a “white Idi Amin.”
He voiced concerns over safety and purpose, noting he would not willingly walk into uncertainty “because I don’t know what is waiting for me on the other side of the door.”
The Wole Soyinka Visa Reinterview incident has opened a deeper conversation about the treatment of travellers and migrants, as well as the diplomatic protocols that shape global mobility.
Soyinka suggested that rather than bureaucratic rigidity, what the U.S. may now need is something far more spiritual: “Perhaps what the United States needs right now is an exorcist.”
Though he declined the invitation, Soyinka said the episode was useful in exposing imbalances in international relations and immigration systems.
“People like me are nomadic anyway. But for others, it’s a terrifying prospect,” he concluded.
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