Soyinka recounts ordeal of being robbed by a taxi driver through PoS machine
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“At nearly 1am, the driver stopped in an unfamiliar place and revealed a POS [Point of Sale] 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” – Soyinka.
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Wole Soyinka has recounted his harrowing ordeal of being abducted and robbed by a taxi driver when he attended the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Bucharest, Romania.
The 91-year-old Nobel Laureate said he arrived in Bucharest after midnight for the event and boarded what looked like an official taxi from the airport headed for Novotel Hotel, his lodging.
Sibiu International Theatre Festival is one of the world’s largest performing arts festivals, where he was scheduled to be honoured.
But while enroute the hotel, the driver suddenly diverted to a remote, dimly lit area.
“At nearly 1am, the driver stopped in an unfamiliar place and revealed a POS [Point of Sale] machine, urging me to enter my PIN,” Soyinka told TheNews in Lagos.
“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 there was an intense confrontation between him and the taxi driver while he was demanding for his PIN, before the driver robbed him of his money and eventually dropped him off near the hotel.
“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.”
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