Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticised what he described as an “extravagant and needless” security convoy attached to Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, cautioning that Nigeria’s security priorities risk becoming dangerously skewed when excessive protection is extended to individuals without public office.
Speaking at an award event in Lagos, the playwright said he was stunned by the scale of armed personnel escorting the president’s son during a recent visit to Ikoyi. Soyinka recounted stepping out of his hotel only to encounter what he initially mistook for a movie set.
He said, “I saw no fewer than 15 heavily armed officers arranged in formation, as if preparing to capture a small nation”, noting that the convoy bore the markings of a full military operation rather than the movement of a private citizen.
Soyinka said the incident raised troubling questions about fairness and the efficient use of national security assets at a time when communities across Nigeria are under siege from kidnappers, bandits, and violent extremists.
He drew a pointed comparison to the federal response to recent unrest in the Benin Republic, saying the government need not deploy the Air Force when “sufficient firepower already appears to be assigned to one young man.”
“The next time there’s an insurrection, the president should simply call that young man and say, ‘Please go and quell the rebellion’,” he quipped, prompting laughter from the audience.
The literary icon stressed that Nigeria is not the first country to have a head of state, but warned that the children of leaders must avoid projecting the impression of parallel authority or enjoying privileges that distort national structures.
He stated, “Children are not heads of state. When the nation’s security architecture seems to tilt unnaturally toward one individual, the entire system suffers.”
Soyinka’s remarks underscore growing public frustration over the use of state resources by politically connected families.
Analysts say the episode has reignited calls for stricter transparency and accountability in the deployment of security assets, particularly as Nigeria grapples with escalating insecurity and budgetary strain.
