Nobel Laureate and world-renowned playwright Wole Soyinka has recounted a terrifying experience of being abducted and robbed in Bucharest, Romania.
Soyinka had travelled to Bucharest to attend the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, one of the world’s largest performing arts events, where he was set to be honoured.
He arrived in the city after midnight and took what appeared to be an official taxi from the airport to his hotel, the Novotel.
Speaking in an interview, Soyinka revealed that en route, the driver suddenly diverted to a remote, poorly lit area.
“At nearly 1 a.m., the driver stopped in an unfamiliar place and revealed a POS machine, urging me to enter my PIN,” Soyinka said.
He added, “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, buying time, hoping someone would appear, maybe someone from the hotel or a passerby. But the place was completely deserted.”
The playwright described a tense confrontation with the driver over the PIN before he was eventually dropped near the hotel. Despite escaping, Soyinka was robbed of his money.
“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,” he said.
Though shaken, the Nobel laureate stressed that the robbery went beyond personal loss.