Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka has revealed how he was abducted and robbed in Bucharest, Romania.
The world renowned playwright traveled to Bucharest to attend the Sibiu International Theatre Festival.
Sibiu International Theatre Festival is one of the world’s largest performing arts festivals, where he was set to be honoured.
However, Soyinka revealed that he arrived at Bucharest after midnight for the event and boarded what seemed like an official taxi from the airport headed for his scheduled hotel, Novotel Hotel.
Speaking with TheNews in Lagos, Soyinka said while enroute the hotel, the driver suddenly diverted to a remote, dimly lit area.
He said: “At nearly 1 a.m., the driver stopped in an unfamiliar place and revealed a POS machine, urging me to enter my pin.
“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 recalled an intense confrontation between him and the taxi driver while he was demanding his pin.
After much confrontation, the driver eventually dropped him near the hotel but robbed him 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.
