Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticised what he called the “battalion-level” security escorts attached to President Bola Tinubu’s son, warning that such over-deployment distorts Nigeria’s security priorities.
Speaking at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Awards in Lagos, he recalled seeing about 15 heavily armed operatives at a hotel in Ikoyi, initially mistaking the scene for a film set. “I looked around and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the hotel grounds,” he said.
Soyinka said he was shocked to learn the officers were guarding the president’s son, adding that their strength was enough “to take over a neighbouring small country or city like Benin.” He said he attempted contacting the National Security Adviser to verify whether such deployment was authorised.
With sarcasm, he argued that government would not need the military to quell unrest in Benin Republic when such a force “already escorts the president’s son,” adding: “Children should know their place. They are not potentates; they are not heads of state.”