LAGOS: Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticized the heavy security presence surrounding Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, describing it as excessive and troubling.
Soyinka spoke on Tuesday in Lagos at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards, where he said the scale of armed security detail attached to members of the President’s family reflects poorly on Nigeria’s security priorities.
He stressed that while world leaders have families entitled to protection, such privilege must not be abused.
Recounting the incident, Soyinka said he was leaving his hotel in Ikoyi when he encountered what he initially thought was a movie set.
I thought they were shooting a film on the hotel grounds,” he said.
He explained that a young man approached and greeted him politely, prompting him to ask jokingly if a movie was being filmed.
But looking around, Soyinka said he saw a large contingent of heavily armed security operatives occupying the premises.
I later asked my driver who the young man was, and when he told me, I saw what looked like a SWAT team heavily armed, about 15 or more enough to take over a small neighbouring country like Benin, he said.
Soyinka said the sight alarmed him so much that he contacted the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to seek clarification on whether the deployment was official and justified.
I was so astonished that I tried to reach the National Security Adviser. I told him I had just witnessed something I couldn’t understand, and I described the scene, he said.
According to Soyinka, the incident raised serious questions about the use of state security resources and the optics of power in a country grappling with widespread insecurity.
