Soyinka Recounts Harrowing Kidnap, Robbery Ordeal In Romania

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has narrated how he was abducted and dispossessed of his money during a recent visit to Bucharest, Romania.

The literary icon was in the European country to attend the prestigious Sibiu International Theatre Festival, one of the world’s largest performing arts gatherings, where he was billed to be honoured.

Speaking in Lagos about the incident, Soyinka disclosed that he landed in Bucharest after midnight and boarded what appeared to be an official taxi at the airport en route to his hotel, Novotel.

According to him, the journey took a sinister turn when the driver veered off course into a dimly lit, remote area.

“At nearly 1 a.m., the driver stopped at a deserted spot and suddenly produced a POS machine, insisting I input my pin,” he recounted. “He kept concealing the screen, and for nearly half an hour, I deliberately entered the wrong pin, trying to buy time in the hope that someone might intervene. But the place was utterly deserted.”

Soyinka described the encounter as tense, with the driver growing increasingly hostile during the standoff. Eventually, he said, the driver released him near his hotel but not without carting away his money.

“Not that I like losing money,” Soyinka noted. “But it is much bigger than me. It’s not just an attack on me as a person; it is an assault on the community.”