Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticised the large number of heavily armed security personnel reportedly assigned to Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu.
Soyinka made the remarks in Lagos while presenting an honorary award to poet and activist Odia Ofeimun at an event organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Speaking humorously but pointedly, Soyinka said President Tinubu should not have deployed the military and Air Force to Benin Republic to foil Sunday’s attempted coup, but could simply have sent his son—given the size of his security detail.
According to Soyinka, during a visit to Lagos two months earlier, he encountered what he initially assumed was a film set outside a hotel in Ikoyi.
Ayoung man stepped forward to greet him, and Soyinka later discovered from his driver that the individual was Seyi Tinubu.
He said he counted about 15 heavily armed security operatives, a number he described as “enough to take over a small country like Benin Republic.”
Soyinka added that he was so alarmed by the extent of the security escort that he contacted the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to express his concerns.
He stressed that while it is normal for the family of a head of state to have security protection, such measures should not be excessive.