Society Gists

Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka has said that he has thrown away his green card following the emergence of Donald Trump as the elected president of the United States of America.

“The moment they announce his victory, I will cut my green card myself and start packing up,” Soyinka had said while speaking to Oxford University students last month.

After Trump emerged as winner, Soyinka, in an interview withe Newsweek said: “Why don’t we wait until Trump actually takes office? I’m just going about my normal commitments, but definitely not getting into any more commitments. Let’s put it that way for now”.

Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of an education conference at the University of Johannesburg, the octogenarian said: “I have already done it, I have disengaged (from the United States). I have done what I said I would do”.

“I had a horror of what is to come with Trump… I threw away the (green) card, and I have relocated, and I’m back to where I have always been (Nigeria),” he added.

At the same time he said he would not discourage others from applying for a green card. “It’s useful in many ways. I wouldn’t for one single moment discourage any Nigerians or anybody from acquiring a green card… but I have had enough of it,” he said.

Soyinka is currently scholar-in-residence at New York University (NYU)’s Institute of African American Affairs this fall semester.