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Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has criticised what he described as the excessive security deployed around President Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, saying it reflects poorly on Nigeria’s priorities and overall security architecture.
Soyinka spoke on Tuesday, December 9, at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos, where he recounted a recent encounter that left him “astonished” by the scale of armed protection assigned to the president’s son.
According to him, the incident occurred about two months ago at a hotel in the Ikoyi area of Lagos.
He said:
“President Tinubu didn’t have to send the Air Force and Military to deal with the insurrection to our sense of security and equilibrium; no, there are easier ways of doing it.
Let me tell you where Tinubu should have looked for forces to quell that insurrection — right here in Lagos or in Abuja perhaps. There was no need to call the Military or the Air Force.
I was coming out of a hotel and I saw what looked like a film set. A young man detached himself from the actors and came over to greet me very politely.
And I said, ‘Are you shooting a film?’ I looked around and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the grounds of that hotel in Ikoyi.
So I got back in my car and asked the driver who that young man was — and he told me.
I saw a SWAT team, at least 15 heavily armed security personnel… enough to take over a small neighbouring country like Benin.
I think the next time, the president should just call and say, ‘Seyi, go and quell the rebellion over there.’ I was so astonished that I asked someone to track down the NSA. They found him in Paris, and I said to him, ‘I have just seen something I can’t believe.’
I described the scene and asked, ‘Do you mean the child of the Head of State moves around with the Army for his protection?’
I couldn’t believe it. I did some investigative journalism and found out this is how this young man moves around — with his battalion of heavily armed soldiers.”
Soyinka said the situation underscores the misplacement of security priorities in the country and raises serious questions about Nigeria’s leadership and governance culture.
