Battalion-level security detail around Seyi Tinubu, enough to capture a small Country – Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has taken a swipe at what he called the “excessive and embarrassing” security entourage attached to one of President Bola Tinubu’s sons, warning that such misuse of state resources reflects a troubling distortion of Nigeria’s security priorities.

Speaking on Tuesday at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos, the playwright recounted a recent encounter at a hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he mistook the president’s son’s security detail for a film set due to the sheer number of armed operatives on ground.

Soyinka said he was stunned to find what appeared to be a fully armed battalion occupying the hotel premises.

“I was coming out of my hotel and I saw what looked like a film set,” he said. “A young man detached himself, greeted me politely. I asked jokingly if they were shooting a film, but I realised these were not actors.”

“There were at least 15 heavily armed security personnel, enough to overrun a small neighbouring country like Benin.”

He added that the display of force alarmed him so much that he attempted contacting the National Security Adviser (NSA) to verify whether such deployment was authorised.

“I started looking for the NSA immediately. I described the scene to him and asked: do you mean that the child of the head of state goes around with an army?” he said.

The Nobel laureate said his subsequent inquiries confirmed that the president’s son regularly moves around with that level of security.

In characteristic humour, Soyinka said President Tinubu did not need to deploy the military or air force to quell threats in neighbouring countries when such firepower was already following his son around Lagos.

“Next time there’s an insurrection, the president should simply call that young man,” he quipped.

“‘Seyi, go and put down those stupid people there. You have troops under your command.’”

Soyinka insisted that while heads of state everywhere have families, such privilege should never be abused. He warned that dedicating an excessive number of elite operatives to one individual, who holds no public office, weakens the nation’s broader security architecture.

“Children should know their place. They are not potentates. They are not heads of state,” he said.

“The security architecture of a nation suffers when such heavy devotion of personnel is seen around one young individual.”

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