“I Fought My Way Out” — Soyinka Recounts Chilling Near-Death Experience Abroad

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has narrated how he was abducted and robbed during a recent visit to Bucharest, Romania, where he had travelled to attend the Sibiu International Theatre Festival.

According to Ireporter Online, the renowned playwright, who was scheduled to be honoured at the festival, described his arrival in Romania as a nightmarish experience.

Speaking in Lagos, Soyinka recounted that the ordeal began shortly after midnight when he landed at Bucharest Airport. Having missed the official reception arranged to welcome him, he boarded what he assumed to be a legitimate taxi to his hotel.

Instead of driving to the Novotel Hotel, the driver diverted into a deserted, dimly lit area. At nearly 1 a.m., Soyinka said the driver stopped, produced a POS machine, and demanded that he enter his bank details.

The Nobel laureate explained that he deliberately stalled for about half an hour by repeatedly entering the wrong pin in hopes of attracting help. “I had to do it without even seeing the screen because he kept hiding it. For about 25 to 30 minutes, I kept putting in wrong entries, hoping someone would pass by or that help would come. But the place was completely deserted,” he recalled.

Eventually, his abductors succeeded in extracting money from his account before abandoning him near his hotel. “Not that I like losing money, but the issue is bigger than me. This was not just an attack on an individual — it was an assault on the community,” Soyinka stressed.

He further expressed disappointment with how Romanian authorities handled the matter, stating that the police seemed more interested in quietly containing the case than in providing him with updates. He disclosed that he intends to shed more light on the incident in the next edition of his Intervention Series.

Despite the traumatic experience, Soyinka was eventually conveyed safely to Sibiu the following day, where he participated in the festival.