Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka on Tuesday criticised what he described as an excessive deployment of armed security personnel around Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu.
Soyinka spoke in Lagos while presenting an honorary award to poet and activist Odia Ofeimun at an event organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Expressing concern, the playwright said he was taken aback by the sight of numerous heavily armed operatives accompanying the President’s son at a hotel in Ikoyi. He said he counted “about 15 or so” security personnel, all visibly armed.
In a satirical remark, Soyinka suggested that President Tinubu could have sent his son and his security detail to Benin Republic to foil Sunday’s attempted coup, instead of deploying Nigerian soldiers and Air Force personnel.
The Nobel Laureate disclosed that the scene was so startling that he contacted the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to lodge a complaint.
According to him, he initially thought the gathering was part of a film production until a young man stepped out to greet him. He said he later learned from his driver that the individual was Seyi Tinubu.
Soyinka’s remarks have since sparked renewed public debate over the use of state security resources and the visibility of armed escorts around politically connected individuals.
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“I’ve just seen something I can’t believe, I don’t understand,” he recalled telling the official. “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 enquired and I found that apparently, this is how this young man goes around with his battalion, his heavy armed soldiers,” he added. “Let’s not overdo things”
He argued that devoting such a contingent to a private citizen could undermine the country’s security framework.
He added that Nigeria was not the first nation with a head of state, and that presidential children should remain within appropriate boundaries.
“Children should know their place. They are not potentates,” he said.
He joked that if the country faced another insurrection, the president should simply call his son to deploy the troop-sized detail that follows him around.
“Next time there’s an insurrection, I think the president should just call that young man and say, go and put down those stupid people there. You have enough troops under your command, so don’t bother me with all the security issues any longer. Let’s not overdo things,” he cautioned.
The criticism comes weeks after President Tinubu ordered the withdrawal of police officers assigned to Very Important Persons (VIPs) across the country, directing that they refocus on their core duties of protecting the public.
The presidential directive, issued at a security meeting in Abuja with the police, Air Force, Army chiefs, and the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), stated that VIPs requiring personal protection must now request well-armed personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Nigeria’s worsening insecurity has put enormous pressure on the country’s already overstretched security forces.
