Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has criticised the large number of heavily armed security operatives attached to Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu.
Soyinka spoke in Lagos on Tuesday while presenting an honorary award to poet Odia Ofeimun at an event organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
He said he was shocked by the security detail he saw when Seyi visited a hotel in Ikoyi.
According to him, he counted “15 or so heavily armed to the teeth” escorts.
“My first thought was that I had walked onto a film set,” he said.
“A young man detached himself from the group to greet me… later on I found that apparently this is how this young man goes around with his battalion, his heavy armed soldiers.”
Soyinka said the experience disturbed him so much that he reached out to National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
“Do you mean that a child of the head of state goes around with an army for his protection or whatever? I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
He warned that dedicating such state security assets to an individual without public office “undermines the country’s security framework.”
“Children should know their place. They are not potentates,” Soyinka added.
He also joked that the president should simply call on his son and “his battalion” if the country ever faces another insurrection instead of mobilising the army or air force.
The presidency has yet to respond to Soyinka’s remarks.
Soyinka’s comments come weeks after President Tinubu ordered the withdrawal of police escorts from VIPs nationwide, insisting that those who need protection must obtain personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. Despite the directive, reports show that many influential Nigerians still move with police or DSS escorts, raising questions about enforcement and fairness.
Critics have argued that diverting police and DSS operatives to private individuals worsens insecurity across the country, especially as officers continue to be seen running errands or providing unofficial protection for VIPs.
