Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticised the unusually large number of armed security personnel assigned to Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos on Tuesday, Soyinka said the display of excessive force raises serious questions about Nigeria’s security priorities and the misuse of state resources.
He recounted his surprise when he stepped out of his hotel in Ikoyi and encountered what he initially thought was a movie set.
“I came out of my hotel and saw what looked like a film production. A young man broke away from the group, greeted me politely, and I joked, ‘Are you shooting a film?’ But then I looked closely—there was practically a battalion occupying the hotel grounds.”
According to him, the security personnel—about 15 of them heavily armed—were enough to “take over a small neighbouring country like Benin Republic.”
Soyinka said the scene was so alarming that he immediately contacted the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to confirm whether such a deployment was sanctioned.
“I was astonished. I asked that the NSA be tracked down immediately. They eventually reached him in Paris, where he was in a meeting with the President. I told him what I had witnessed because it was simply unbelievable.”
The Nobel Laureate stressed that while it is normal for presidents to protect their families, such privilege must not be abused or turned into a spectacle of state power.
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