“How I Survived Abduction, Robbery in Bucharest” – Wole Soyinka

Nigerian Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has recounted a harrowing experience of abduction and robbery during a recent visit to Bucharest, Romania.

Soyinka revealed that he was in the country to attend the Sibiu International Theatre Festival one of the world’s largest performing arts festivals where he was scheduled to be honoured. However, what was meant to be a celebratory trip quickly turned into a traumatic ordeal.

According to the renowned playwright and literary icon, the incident occurred shortly after his arrival in Bucharest just past midnight. Upon landing, he discovered that the reception party meant to receive him at the airport was absent. Left to navigate on his own, Soyinka boarded what appeared to be an official taxi, heading to the Novotel Hotel, his designated accommodation.

In a disturbing twist, the driver deviated from the expected route and drove into a remote, dimly lit area.

“At nearly 1 a.m., the driver stopped in an unfamiliar location and brought out a POS machine, urging me to enter my PIN,” Soyinka recounted.
“I had to input it without seeing the screen, as he kept hiding it. For about 25 to 30 minutes, I deliberately entered the wrong PIN, stalling for time and hoping someone perhaps from the hotel or a passerby would show up. But the place was completely deserted.”

What followed was a tense standoff inside the vehicle, with the driver persistently pressuring Soyinka to provide the correct PIN. Eventually, the driver dropped him off near the hotel after what Soyinka described as an unsettling confrontation.

He later discovered he had been robbed of some cash, though he admitted he did not check whether any funds had been refunded.

“Not that I like to lose money. But for me, it’s much smaller than the broader implications. It’s not just an attack on me as an individual; it’s an assault on the community,” he said.

The next day, Soyinka was picked up and safely transported to Sibiu for the festival. However, he expressed deep disappointment with the tepid response from local authorities. According to him, the police quietly contained the incident and failed to keep him updated on any progress in the investigation.

“There were certain aspects of how the case was handled that really troubled me,” he said, adding that he plans to detail the full experience in the next edition of his Interventions series.

“The entire episode felt surreal and deeply unnerving,” Soyinka concluded.

Source: The Sun