Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has called on President Bola Tinubu to exercise caution in matters of regional security, domestic governance, and the deployment of state protection for privileged individuals.
Speaking on Tuesday at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Awards in Lagos, Soyinka expressed astonishment at reports that the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, reportedly travels with a personal battalion of heavily armed soldiers.
“I was so astonished that I started looking for the national security adviser… I said do you mean that a child of the head of state goes around with an army for his protection?” Soyinka recounted. “I couldn’t believe it. Children must understand their place. They are not elected leaders, and they must not inherit the architecture of state power simply by proximity.”
Soyinka urged the President to reconsider the scale of security personnel assigned to Seyi, emphasizing that such resources are urgently needed elsewhere. Speaking with characteristic wit, he remarked that if a major insurgency were to erupt, perhaps the President could ask Seyi to “go and handle it” given the size of his escort — but added that “beyond the humour lies a serious matter of priority and fairness.”
He warned that concentrating a battalion of operatives around a single individual is inconsistent with a nation grappling with kidnappings, rural attacks, insurgency, and criminal violence. Soyinka stressed that security deployments must reflect national realities rather than privilege.
The event also honored veteran poet Odia Ofeimum and other notable figures in investigative journalism.