- Says personnel guarding President’s son adequate to quell Benin Republic uprising
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has criticised the excessive deployment of security operatives around the family of President Bola Tinubu with a caution that such overreach can easily undermine Nigeria’s security priorities
According to him, though the Heads of State have families that must be protected, such privilege must never be abused or allowed to distort national security structures.
The playwright and poet, who spoke at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos on Tuesday, recounted his recent encounter with what he described as a “battalion-level” security detail attached to the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu at a hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Explaining that he had initially assumed a film was being shot within the hotel premises due to the sheer number of heavily armed personnel he saw, Soyinka said: “I was coming out of my hotel, and I saw what looked like a film set”
“A young man detached himself from the actors, came over and greeted me politely. When I asked if they were shooting a film, he said no. I looked around and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the hotel grounds.”
The literary icon noted that about 15 heavily armed officers formed the President’s son’s security cordon, an arrangement he found alarming.
“When I got back in my car and asked the driver who the young man was, he told me. And I saw this SWAT team, heavily armed to the teeth. They looked sufficient to take over a neighbouring small country or city like Benin,” he said.
The playwright said being so disturbed about the development, he attempted reaching the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu to verify whether the deployment was official.
He said: “I began looking for the NSA immediately. I said, track him down for me. They got him somewhere in Paris, but he was in a meeting with the President. I described the scene and asked: ‘Do you mean a child of the Head of State goes around with an army for his protection?’ I couldn’t believe it.”
However, in a mocking tone, the nonagenarian said the Federal Government need not deploy the Military or Air Force to quell threats in neighbouring countries when such a formidable force already escorts the President’s son.
Hear him: “Tinubu didn’t have to send the air force or military to deal with any insurrection. There is an easier way.
“Next time there’s an uprising, the president should call that young man and say, ‘Seyi, go and put down those stupid people there. You have troops under your command.”
Warning against abusing privileges or clearly distorting national security systems and protocols, Prof Soyinka said: ” Children should know their place. They are not potentates; they are not heads of state.
“The security architecture of a nation suffers when we see such heavy devotion of security to one young individual.”
The comments by Prof Soyinka have further sparked ongoing public debate about the scale and visibility of state-provided security for politically exposed and connected individuals, against the backdrop of current heightened insecurity and other challenges nationwide.
