Human rights activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has condemned the revocation of Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka’s United States visa, describing the development as “sad.”

Sowore, in a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, expressed dismay over the incident.

He wrote, “Donald Trump reportedly revokes U.S. visa of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka! Sad! What the U.S. has become!”

PUNCH Online earlier reported that Soyinka had disclosed during a media parley at Kongi’s Harvest Gallery, Freedom Park, Lagos Island, that the U.S. government had revoked his visa, effectively barring him from entering the country.

“It is necessary for me to hold this conference so that people in the United States who are expecting me for this event or that event do not waste their time,” Soyinka said.

“I have no visa; I am banned, obviously, from the United States. And if you want to see me, you know where to find me,” he added.

According to Soyinka, the U.S. Consulate informed him of the revocation in a letter dated October 23, 2025.

The Nobel Laureate said he was unaware of any wrongdoing that might have warranted the action, describing it as puzzling.

He also urged people to continue standing against discrimination and injustice everywhere.

Soyinka noted that he had maintained a cordial relationship with the U.S. for many years, except for moments of tension that emerged during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

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An Ivory Coast opposition party on Wednesday called a protest for November 8, denouncing “massacres” during Saturday’s presidential vote which saw Alassane Ouattara win a fourth term by a landslide.

Ouattara’s re-election with nearly 90 per cent of the vote came after a campaign marked by heightened tensions in which his main rivals were prevented from challenging the 83-year-old leader.

Some two per cent of polling stations reported disturbances during Saturday’s ballot, while others saw eruptions of violence, notably in the centre-west of the West African nation.

Three people were killed in Nahio on polling day in clashes between voters and critics boycotting the polls, according to the public prosecutor.

The African People’s Party — Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo — a bitter Ouattara rival who was barred from running by the courts — has accused the authorities of “violent repression” and gave a toll of 23 people dead during October.

Repeating its opposition to what the party deems to be Ouattara’s unconstitutional fourth mandate, the PPA-CI Wednesday, called for a “large peaceful march on November 8 to protest against the massacres of populations and demand the release of all political prisoners”.

In mid-October, authorities banned rallies by parties not taking part in the presidential vote for a period of two months, citing the risk of breaches of the peace.

Several hundred people have been arrested and dozens condemned to three years in prison for having taken part in banned marches.

Around 20 members of either the PPA-CI or the Democratic Party of the Ivory Coast (PDCI), the country’s largest opposition party, were summoned by the police on Tuesday for an unknown reason.

On Wednesday, the PPA-CI’s Secretary-General, Jean-Gervais Tcheide, said he believed that those summonses had been “suspended”, a fact confirmed by the Ivorian police.

“These maneuvers aim to prevent deputies from running as candidates in the upcoming legislative elections,” Tcheide told the press.

That ballot is scheduled for December 27.

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More than 100 people have been killed in Brazil Rio de Janeiro’s deadliest-ever police raid, as security forces clashed with the powerful Comando Vermelho (Red Command) drug gang in a sweeping crackdown that has drawn condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations.

Officials said at least 119 people — including 115 suspected criminals and four police officers — were killed in the two-day operation that engulfed the city’s Complexo da Penha favela. The Public Defender’s Office in Rio, however, reported a higher toll of at least 132 deaths.

The raid, which authorities described as a counteroffensive against “narcoterrorism,” unfolded just days before Brazil is set to host the COP30 global climate talks in Belem, casting a shadow over President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government.

Lula was said to be “horrified” by the scale of the bloodshed, according to Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, who said the president had not been informed in advance of the operation.

“The president is horrified by the number of fatal incidents and was surprised that an operation of this scale was set up without the knowledge of the federal government,” Lewandowski told reporters.

Residents accuse police of executions

A day after the raid, residents of the densely populated favela gathered dozens of bodies from a nearby forest — some mutilated or bearing signs of execution — and lined them along the street in protest.

“The state came to massacre. It wasn’t a police operation. They came directly to kill,” one woman told AFP.

Community activist Raull Santiago said many of the victims were shot in the back or head. “This cannot be considered public safety,” he said.

Lawyer Albino Pereira Neto, representing several bereaved families, claimed some victims had burn marks or were tied up before being killed. “They were murdered in cold blood,” he alleged.

Police defend raid as ‘success’

Despite the outrage, Rio state governor Claudio Castro hailed the operation as a “success,” saying it was part of efforts to reclaim areas dominated by heavily armed gangs.

“The only victims were the police officers who were killed,” he said.

Military police secretary Marcelo de Menezes said elite units had pushed the criminals into the forest surrounding the favela “to protect the population.” Civil police chief Felipe Curi added that bodies stripped down to underwear had been “relieved of camouflage clothing, vests, and weapons” by residents.

The Comando Vermelho gang — known for its use of drones, explosives, and heavily armed fighters — responded by seizing buses to barricade highways and launching attacks on police.

UN, activists demand probe

The United Nations condemned the incident, with Secretary-General António Guterres expressing deep concern over the “high number of casualties.”

The UN human rights office said it was “horrified” and called for “swift, transparent investigations” into possible extrajudicial killings.

The police offensive has reignited debate over Brazil’s long-standing “war on drugs” — a policy critics say disproportionately targets impoverished communities while doing little to curb organized crime.

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