- Wole Soyinka has expressed concern over the excessive number of people accompanying Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
- In a widely circulated video, Soyinka recounted his shock after encountering what appeared to be a “small battalion” of heavily armed agents guarding Seyi at a hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.
- According to Soyinka, he initially thought a movie was being shot until Seyi approached to greet him. He said he became even more disturbed when he learned that the security detail for the president’s son was standard.
Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has publicly expressed deep concern over what he describes as the unusually large security personnel assigned to President Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu.
In a viral video, Soyinka recounted his shock when he encountered what appeared to be a “small battalion” of heavily armed security personnel guarding Seyi during a visit to a hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.
He initially thought a movie was being filmed until Seyi Tinubu came out to greet him and realized the situation was real. soyinka says: “A young man came over to say hello to me. He was very polite and nice. I asked them if they were filming a movie, and he said no.”
Soyinka was visibly upset when he discovered that the massive security force was serving the president’s son. “I was told that this is how this young man moves around. I can’t believe that a child of a head of state walks around with an army to protect him,” he said.
The Nobel laureate stressed that such a large deployment of national security resources sends the wrong signal: “Children should know their place. They are not heads of state. When we see the military being so invested in a young person, the security architecture of a country suffers.”
Soyinka jokingly suggested that if there were so many troops, the president should make better use of them: “Next time there is a rebellion, the president just call that young man, he has enough troops at his disposal.”
