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Is Professor Wole Soyinka Visiting USA As A Citizen Or As An Alien



‘The moment they announce his (Donald Trump) victory, I will cut my green card myself and start packing up’, Professor Soyinka told a gathering at Oxford University in London.
Do you remember this statement?

Professor Wole Soyinka is a prolific playwright, novelist and poet that won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and has been a regular teacher at US Universities including Harvard, Cornell and Yale.
Before Trump became President, Soyinka had spent much time in the US,and lived in California with his wife, Folake.
He made this statement to the run up to the US Presidential election in 2016. He was strongly against the emergence of Donald Trump as the standard candidate of the Republican Party. In a statement in 2016, he stated why he chose to drop the Green card.
According to him “I was in New York during the run-up to elections. I watched his (Trump) face, his body language, listened to his uncouth, racist language, his imbecilic harangues, the insults to other peoples, other races, especially the Hispanics, Africans and Afro Americans , even citing once- I was told- Nigeria as an instance of the burdensome occupation of global space. I watched and listened, disbelievingly, since this was America, supposedly now freed to a large extent- as we like to believe and have a right to expect- from its lamentable history of racism”.
Unfortunately for the Professor, Donald Trump won against Hillary Clinton of the Democratic candidate, his preferred choice.
We did not know if the Nigerian Professor fulfilled his promise by tearing his Green Card, but when he was asked, he said
‘ I have already done it, I have disengaged (from the USA). I have done what I said I would do’, the 82 yr old said in an interview he granted AFP
Mr Soyinka also said he declined going to Australia within the past 15 years because of a stringent visa application policy that the country has towards senior citizens, especially those above 70.
Less than a year after he turned his back on the USA, Professor Wole Soyinka is to visit America to deliver a lecture. He will be delivering the Richard D Cohen lectures at Harvard University Center for African studies from November 14 to 16.
When asked how he will be going, the professor said “I’ll be going as an alien, an alien from the outer space. I love that designation”.
Our Professor may have made the 2016 statement at a spur of the moment. Or alternatively, the allure of making more US dollars to keep body in shape could have made our dear Professor to change his mind.

 

announce his (Donald Trump) victory, I will cut my green card myself and start packing up’, Professor Soyinka told a gathering at Oxford University in London.
Do you remember this statement?

Professor Wole Soyinka is a prolific playwright, novelist and poet that won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and has been a regular teacher at US Universities including Harvard, Cornell and Yale.
Before Trump became President, Soyinka had spent much time in the US,and lived in California with his wife, Folake.
He made this statement to the run up to the US Presidential election in 2016. He was strongly against the emergence of Donald Trump as the standard candidate of the Republican Party. In a statement in 2016, he stated why he chose to drop the Green card.
According to him “I was in New York during the run-up to elections. I watched his (Trump) face, his body language, listened to his uncouth, racist language, his imbecilic harangues, the insults to other peoples, other races, especially the Hispanics, Africans and Afro Americans , even citing once- I was told- Nigeria as an instance of the burdensome occupation of global space. I watched and listened, disbelievingly, since this was America, supposedly now freed to a large extent- as we like to believe and have a right to expect- from its lamentable history of racism”.
Unfortunately for the Professor, Donald Trump won against Hillary Clinton of the Democratic candidate, his preferred choice.
We did not know if the Nigerian Professor fulfilled his promise by tearing his Green Card, but when he was asked, he said
‘ I have already done it, I have disengaged (from the USA). I have done what I said I would do’, the 82 yr old said in an interview he granted AFP
Mr Soyinka also said he declined going to Australia within the past 15 years because of a stringent visa application policy that the country has towards senior citizens, especially those above 70.
Less than a year after he turned his back on the USA, Professor Wole Soyinka is to visit America to deliver a lecture. He will be delivering the Richard D Cohen lectures at Harvard University Center for African studies from November 14 to 16.
When asked how he will be going, the professor said “I’ll be going as an alien, an alien from the outer space. I love that designation”.
Our Professor may have made the 2016 statement at a spur of the moment. Or alternatively, the allure of making more US dollars to keep body in shape could have made our dear Professor to change his mind.

 

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