Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has revealed that the United States has revoked his visa and barred him from entering the country.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, the 91-year-old author who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 explained that the U.S. consulate had instructed him to present his passport in person so that his visa could be officially cancelled. The reason given was that “new unspecified information had come to light.”

Describing the notice as a “rather curious love letter from an embassy,” Soyinka advised any institutions planning to invite him to the United States not to waste their time.

The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria declined to comment, citing its policy of not discussing individual cases.

Soyinka once held permanent U.S. residency but gave it up in 2016, dramatically tearing up his green card in protest against Donald Trump’s election victory. The green card, a highly sought-after U.S. permanent residence permit, remains a major aspiration for many Africans.

Reiterating that he no longer possessed the card, Soyinka joked on Tuesday that it had “fallen between the fingers of a pair of scissors and it got cut into a couple of pieces.”

For over three decades, the celebrated playwright and academic has maintained regular teaching engagements at American universities. However, he now stated bluntly, “I have no visa. I am banned.”

Soyinka, a long-standing critic of Trump’s hardline immigration policies, suggested that his vocal opposition may have prompted the recent visa cancellation. He noted that his earlier remark comparing the former U.S. president to Uganda’s notorious ruler “Idi Amin in white face” might have played a role in the decision.

“When I called Donald Trump Idi Amin, I thought I was paying him a compliment,” Soyinka quipped. “He’s been behaving like a dictator.”

Idi Amin, Uganda’s military strongman from 1971 to 1979, is remembered for his violent regime and severe human rights abuses.

Asked whether he planned to attempt returning to the U.S., Soyinka replied simply: “How old am I?”

The development follows a July announcement by the U.S. State Department introducing major revisions to its visa policy for Nigerians and several other African nations. Under the new rules, nearly all non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Ghana are now limited to single entry and valid for only three months—replacing the previous multiple-entry visas that lasted up to five years.