NOBEL Laureate Wole Soyinka has questioned the scale of armed protection attached to Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, describing his convoy he encountered in Lagos State as excessive and troubling for a country struggling with overstretched security resources.
Soyinka made the remarks on Tuesday, December 9, while presenting an honorary award to poet Odia Ofeimun at an event hosted by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
He recounted walking into a Lagos hotel and seeing what he initially believed was a film shoot, until one of the men stepped forward to greet him.
It was only after the encounter, he said, that his driver informed him the individual was Seyi Tinubu and that the heavily armed group “about 15 or so, armed to the teeth,” was his security escort.
Soyinka, who said was disturbed by the scene, immediately contacted the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to register his concern.
“I was so astonished that I started looking for the national security adviser. I said track him down for me. I think they got him somewhere in Paris. But he was with the president; he was in a meeting.
“Then, I said I’ve just seen something I can’t believe I don’t understand, and I described the scene to him. I said, ‘Do you mean that a child of the head of state goes around with an army for his protection or whatever’,” he said.
Soyinka added that further inquiries suggested this level of security had become routine for the president’s son. He warned that such deployments divert critical personnel from areas where they are urgently needed.
“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 said.
“Children should know their place. They are not potentates,” he stressed, arguing further that Nigeria’s security system could be weakened if large teams were continually attached to individuals who hold no public office.
Soyinka sarcastically suggested that if another attempted coup or insurrection occurred, the president might simply “send his son and the troops that follow him around” to put it down.
Meanwhile, Soyinka’s criticism came a few weeks after Tinubu withdrew police officers from very important persons.
In November, President Tinubu ordered police officers assigned to VIPs to be withdrawn and redeployed to core policing duties amid the ravaging insecurity.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M