Wole Soyinka Blasts “Battalion-Size” Security Escort for Seyi Tinubu

LAGOS — At the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards last Tuesday, the veteran playwright and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka sharply criticized the heavy security detail surrounding Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu calling it a “battalion-size” escort and a gross misallocation of state resources. 

Soyinka recounted how, during a recent stay in a hotel in Ikoyi, he stepped outside only to find what appeared to be a film shoot dozens of heavily armed men, a scene he later discovered was the security detail for Seyi Tinubu. “A young man detached himself from the actors and greeted me politely,” he recalled. “I joked, ‘Are you shooting a film?’ Then I looked around and saw nearly a whole battalion occupying the hotel grounds.” 

He estimated there were at least fifteen or more “armed to the teeth” officers who and enough, he joked darkly, to “take over a small neighboring city like Benin.” 

Soyinka said he was so alarmed by what he saw that he immediately contacted Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), to ask whether the deployment was official or justified. 

He warned that such deployments, if normalized, risk distorting the country’s security priorities especially at a time when many communities across Nigeria remain vulnerable to banditry, kidnapping, and violence. “These are not potentates,” he stressed, reminding that public security assets belong to the nation, not an individual. 

Soyinka also used the moment to draw a stark contrast between the lavish protection extended to a private individual and the state’s decision to deploy troops and air force jets abroad most recently to counter a failed coup attempt in neighboring Benin Republic. In a sardonic remark, he suggested that the same troops could have been spared if they had been attached to Seyi Tinubu instead. 

He said the spectacle is a symbol of misplaced priorities and a troubling sign of how privilege and informality continue to warp security governance in Nigeria. 

As reaction swirls online, many Nigerians are now questioning the enforcement of a recent government directive aimed at scaling back unauthorised VIP escorts and demanding greater transparency in the deployment of security resources.