Soyinka Criticises Seyi Tinubu’s Large, Armed Security Escorts

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka yesterday decried  the large number of armed security personnel that he saw accompanying the son of President Bola Tinubu, Seyi Tinubu.

Soyinka, who spoke in Lagos  while presenting an honourary award to  famous poet and activist, Odia Ofeimun, who was honoured by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Soyinka mocked the situation by saying that President Bola Tinubu should not have deployed Nigerian soldiers and air force officials to Benin to foil Sunday’s coup there but should instead have asked Seyi Tinubu to go with his armed security escorts to foil the coup.

He said: “Tinubu did not have to look for Airforce and the military to deal with this particular insurrection. No. There are easier way to do it. Let me tell you where Tinubu should have looked for forces to quell that insurrection. Right here in Lagos or in Abuja. There was no need to call the Airforce or the military.  I do not know. I tell you what happened in one my visits about two months ago. I  was coming out of my hotel and saw  what looked like a film set and said, oh they are shooting a film, and the young man detached himself from the actors and came over and greeted  me politely and I said are you shooting a film.”

“He said no. I looked around it was also a whole battalion occupying  that ground  of that hotel in Ikoyi. When I got back to the car and asked the driver, who that young man was and  the driver told  me it was the President Tinubu’s son,Seyi.”  

According to him, he counted about  “15 or so heavily armed to the teeth” security officials who accompanied the president’s son at  that  Ikoyi, Lagos.

He explained that the security personnel were enough to take over a small country like Benin Republic, saying that Tinubu should have just called on Seyi to go and quell that insurrection instead of sending Air force and Military to that country.

The Nobel Laureate said he was so astonished by what he saw that he reached out to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to complain about it.

Soyinka  said Nigeria is not the first to have a head of state who has a family, advising that  we should not overdo things.