Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka recently recounted a terrifying experience of abduction and robbery during his visit to Bucharest, Romania, where he was set to be honored at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival.
In an interview with TheNEWS/PMNEWS in Lagos, Soyinka detailed how his arrival turned into a nightmare shortly after midnight. After missing a reception party, he boarded what he believed was an official taxi to his hotel.
However, the driver took a detour into a deserted and dimly lit area instead of heading to the Novotel Hotel. “At nearly 1 a.m., the driver stopped in an unfamiliar place and revealed a POS machine, urging me to enter my pin,” Soyinka recalled.
To stall for time, the Nobel laureate entered incorrect details for nearly half an hour, hoping for someone to come by. “I had to enter it without seeing the screen because he kept hiding it. For about 25 to 30 minutes, I deliberately entered the wrong pin, hoping someone would appear,” he said, noting the area was completely deserted.
Eventually, the abductors released him near his hotel after extracting money from his account. “Not that I like to lose money. But for me, it’s much smaller. It’s not just an attack on me as an individual; it’s an assault on the community,” Soyinka stated.
He expressed disappointment with the Romanian authorities’ response, mentioning that the police seemed to handle the situation quietly without providing him updates. “There were certain aspects of the handling of the case that really troubled me, which I plan to detail in the next edition of my Intervention Series,” he disclosed.
Despite the unsettling experience, Soyinka was safely transported to Sibiu the following day and participated in the festival, emphasizing that the robbery highlighted the dangers of organized crime and the need for accountability.
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