- Safiu Kehinde
Legendary Nigerian writer and Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has narrated his robbery and abduction ordeal during a recent visit to Bucharest, Romania.
Soyinka, in an exclusive interview with PM News on Tuesday, recounted how he had travelled to the eastern European country for the Sibiu International Theatre Festival.
The Nobel laureate narrated how he had arrived in Bucharest after midnight for the festival considered as one of the world’s largest performing arts festivals.
He however received a shocking welcome to the country as he boarded what appeared to be an official taxi having missed the party designated to receive him at the airport.
As against his destination which was the Novotel Hotel, the driver, according to him, instead diverted to a remote, dimly 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,
“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.” He said.
The driver, according to report, alternated between questioning the theatre and literature icon and insisting on the pin.
While he was eventually dropped near the hotel, Soyinka said that the assailants succeeded in robbing him of 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
Soyinka expressed disappointment in the action from the local authorities as he alleged that the police quietly contained the incident without informing him of any progress.
“There were certain aspects of the handling of the case that really troubled me, which I plan to detail in the next edition of my Intervention Series,” Soyinka said.
While he was picked up the following day and safely taken to Sibiu for the festival, Soyinka still expressed his distraught with the incident which he said raised broader concerns about crime and justice.
“It’s not just an attack on me as an individual; it’s an assault on the community,
“The entire episode felt surreal and deeply unnerving.” He said.