Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has renewed his criticism of former U.S. President Donald Trump, labelling him a “petty-minded dictator” whose administration fostered hostility toward minorities and encouraged deadly policing tactics.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, the 91-year-old playwright said he long warned that Trump’s rise to power would come with consequences for immigrants and people of colour. According to him, Trump’s rhetoric fuelled an escalation in extrajudicial killings of Black Americans and other minority groups.

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

“We saw that dark side of the American experience. There were more killings — police shootings of minorities — encouraged by hate rhetoric.”

Soyinka revealed that he voluntarily destroyed his U.S. Green Card shortly after Trump’s election in 2016. He said he chose to leave the country by his own decision rather than wait for what he feared could be humiliating immigration policies.

“I don’t like to be kicked out; I like to kick myself out,” he said. “It’s more dignified.”

He also recounted receiving a letter from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) notifying him of a tax audit covering five years. The timing, he suggested, felt far from coincidental.

“I didn’t want to be advertised as a tax dodger and then chased around the world,” he said, noting that he immediately contacted the U.S. Embassy to address the matter.

Last month, U.S. authorities reportedly revoked Soyinka’s non-immigrant visa after he reapplied following the IRS notice — an action he interprets as further evidence of the adversarial climate he once predicted.

Soyinka has remained vocal in his disapproval of Trump’s policies and continues to advocate for the dignity and protection of minorities worldwide.