Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has recounted a frightening ordeal of abduction and robbery during his recent trip to Bucharest, Romania.
The globally renowned playwright had travelled to attend the Sibiu International Theatre Festival when the incident occurred. According to reports from Punch and TheNEWS/PMNEWS, Soyinka arrived at Bucharest just after midnight and missed his official reception at the airport.
He boarded what seemed like an official taxi bound for his hotel. However, instead of taking him directly to his destination, the driver diverted into a remote and dimly lit area.
Inside the secluded spot, the driver produced a POS machine and ordered Soyinka to enter his bank PIN. The Nobel Laureate said he endured a tense 30-minute standoff, deliberately inputting wrong codes to delay the process in hopes that help might arrive.
“It was an assault not just on me, but on the community,” Soyinka lamented, stressing that such criminal acts expose the dangers of organised crime networks.
The assailant eventually dropped him near his hotel, but not before succeeding in robbing him of money. Soyinka later travelled to Sibiu the following day to attend the theatre festival as scheduled.
He expressed concern over what he described as “quiet containment” by Romanian authorities in handling the matter, calling for stronger measures against such crimes.
For Soyinka, the financial loss was secondary — the greater worry remains the erosion of safety and trust in public spaces.
Headlineswave.ng will continue to monitor this story for further updates, including any official statement from Romanian authorities
