Soyinka has faulted the excessive security around Seyi Tinubu.
Glamtush reports that Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has faulted the large number of armed security personnel accompanying the son of President Bola Tinubu, Seyi.
Speaking at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos on Tuesday, Soyinka said the excessive deployment of security personnel around the President’s family reflected poorly on Nigeria’s priorities and security architecture.
All these were captured in a now viral four-minute, 25-second video shared on Tuesday night by #Nigeriastories on X.
He stressed that while presidents around the world have families, the privilege must not be abused.
Soyinka had recounted an encounter, which he described as recent, in his hotel room in Ikoyi, Lagos State, that left him shocked at what he considered an extravagant display of state security.
He described seeing “an excessively large security battalion assigned to a young individual close to the Presidency,” an entourage he said was “sufficient to take over a small country.”
Soyinka revealed that the young man turned out to be Seyi Tinubu, the president’s son.
He said the discovery concerned him enough to contact National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
“I was coming out of my hotel, and I saw what looked like a film set. I said, Oh, they are shooting a film on the ground of the hotel,” he recalled.
“And a young man detached himself from the actors, came over and greeted me very politely. A very nice young man. And I said, ‘Are you shooting somebody?’
“I said, ‘I’m just joking. Are you shooting a film?’ I looked around, and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the grounds of the hotel in Ikoyi.
“So, when I got back in my car, and I asked the driver who that young man was, and he told me, and I saw this SWAT team, a mixture; they were heavily armed, at least some 15 or so heavily armed to the teeth security personnel looked sufficient to take over a small country neighbouring city like Benin.”
“I was so astonished that I started looking for the national security adviser. I said track him down for me. I think they got him somewhere in Paris. But he was with the president; he was in a meeting.
“Then, I said I’ve just seen something I can’t believe I don’t understand and I described the scene to him I said do you mean that a child of the head of state goes around with an army for his protection or whatever.
“I couldn’t believe it. Later on, I did some investigative journalism, and I found that apparently this is how this young man goes around with his battalion, his heavy armed soldiers,” he said.
“I was astonished,” Soyinka said, adding that “children must understand their place. They are not elected leaders, and they must not inherit the architecture of state power simply by proximity.”
