…Nobel laureate says Seyi moves around with heavy troops
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka on Tuesday criticised the heavy security presence around President Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi, saying the detail was large enough to quell the recent political unrest in Benin Republic.
Soyinka made the remarks at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Awards in Lagos, recounting an encounter at an Ikoyi hotel where he saw what he described as an unusually large number of armed personnel guarding Seyi Tinubu.
The 89-year-old writer said he initially mistook the scene for a film set before realising the officers were part of the president’s son’s security escort. He said the deployment looked excessive and prompted him to contact the National Security Adviser for clarification.
“I saw nearly a whole battalion occupying the hotel grounds,” Soyinka said. “There were at least 15 heavily armed officers. I could not believe that the child of a head of state goes around with such an army.”
Soyinka said he later confirmed that the security detail was routine for Seyi Tinubu. He urged President Tinubu to curb what he described as an abuse of state privilege.
“Children should know their place. They are not heads of state,” he said. “The security architecture of a nation suffers when so much manpower is devoted to one young individual.”
Soyinka added that the president need not deploy the military to respond to threats when such a security presence is already attached to his son.
The Presidency has not commented on the remarks.
