Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the composition of his son, Seyi Tinubu’s security details, saying the President should have deployed the security team to quell the coup attempt in Benin Republic instead of troops.
He said this on Tuesday during an award ceremony held at one of the centres named after him, where he recounted a recent encounter that informed his position.
Soyinka argued that the President did not need to engage the Air Force or military for intervention in the Benin Republic incident.
He said, “Tinubu didn’t have to send the Air Force and the Military to deal with this particular insurrection, mistrait to our insecurity and equilibrium.
“No! There are easier ways of doing things, let me tell you where Tinubu should look for forces to quell that insurrection, right here in Lagos or in Abuja perhaps, I don’t know but there’s no need to call the military or the air force.”
Soyinka further detailed his suggestion, narrating his encounter with a large security detail during a recent visit to Lagos, which was eventually found to be that of the President’s son.
“I will tell you what happened in one of my home visits about two months ago. I was coming out of a hotel and I saw what looked like a film set and I said oh! They are shooting a film in this hotel and the young man detached himself from the actors, came over to greet me very politely; a very nice young man and I asked: are you shooting somebody? I said: ‘I’m just joking, are you shooting a film? and he said: ‘No’; and I looked around, there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the ground to that hotel in Ikoyi, right here”.
Soyinka said he later learned the identity of the young man. “So, I got back in my car, and I asked the driver who that young man was, and he told me, and I saw the SWAT team, the mixture, they were at least heavily armed – at least 15 or so – heavily armed, to be chief security personnel, uhn! looked sufficient to take over the small neighbouring country, neighboring city like Benin Republic. I think like the next time, the President should just call and say: ‘Seyi, go and quell the rebellion over there’.
Continuing, Soyinka said he was so astonished that he tried to reach the National Security Adviser for verification of what he just saw.
“I was so astonished I started looking for the National Security Adviser. I said track him down for me. I think they got him somewhere in Paris, but he was with the President; he was at a meeting, and I said: ‘I have just seen something I can’t believe, I don’t understand’, and I described the scene to him. I said: “do you mean that the child of the Head of State goes around with an Army for his protection or whatever. I couldn’t believe it”, the Nobel laureate added.
Soyinka further explained that his personal investigation revealed that Seyi Tinubu moves around with that number of personnel in his security team, stressing that such a security convoy is enough to deal with whatever situation in Benin Republic.
He, however, cautioned that assigning such heavy security to one individual sends the wrong message, adding that Nigeria is not the first country to have a Gead of State with a family.
“Let’s not overdo things. I think children should know their place. They are not potentates, they are not exo-state and the security architecture of a nation like this suffers some early injury and alienation when we see such a heavy devotion of security to one young individual”, Soyinka cautioned.
