Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has recounted a harrowing experience during his recent trip to Bucharest, Romania, where he was allegedly abducted and robbed by a taxi driver.

Speaking in an interview with TheNEWS/PM News, Soyinka revealed that he had just arrived at the airport in Bucharest en route to the Sibiu International Theatre Festival (FITS) when the incident occurred.

According to him, the taxi driver who picked him up drove endlessly until midnight before pulling out a POS machine and demanding that he enter his bank PIN.

“He kept saying, ‘Enter your PIN, enter your PIN,’ while hiding the machine. It went on for about 25 to 30 minutes. I kept entering the wrong PIN deliberately, playing for time, hoping someone would come out of a hotel or see us. But the streets were deserted,” Soyinka narrated.

He added that the driver eventually dropped him off at an unfamiliar location, far from his intended hotel, leaving him stranded after the ordeal.

The celebrated writer, who described the experience as both frightening and humiliating, emphasized the need for vigilance while traveling abroad, particularly when engaging with unvetted taxi services.

Prof. Soyinka, despite the traumatic incident, still made his scheduled appearance at the international theatre festival.