Professor Wole Soyinka says President Bola Tinubu must be cautious about his approach to regional security, domestic governance, and the use of state protection for privileged individuals.
The nobel laureate said this at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Awards in Lagos on Monday.
All these were captured in a now viral four-minute, 25-second video shared on Tuesday night by #Nigeriastories on X.
Soyinka had recounted an encounter which he described as recent in Ikoyi, Lagos State, that left him shocked at what he considered an extravagant display of state security.
He described seeing “an excessively large security battalion assigned to a young individual close to the Presidency,” an entourage he said was “sufficient to take over a small country.”
Soyinka revealed that the young man turned out to be Seyi Tinubu, the President’s son.
He said the discovery concerned him enough to contact National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
“I was astonished,” he said, adding that “children must understand their place. They are not elected leaders, and they must not inherit the architecture of state power simply by proximity.”
In a separate remark captured at the same event in honour of veteran poet Odia Ofeimum and many others, Soyinka urged Tinubu to reconsider the scale of security personnel attached to Seyi Tinubu, stressing that such resources are urgently needed elsewhere.
He humorously observed that if a major insurgency were to break out, perhaps the President should 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 one individual is inconsistent with a nation battling kidnappings, rural attacks, insurgency and criminal violence, insisting that security deployments must reflect national realities, not privilege.
Turning to the media, Soyinka praised journalists for resilience but urged stronger editorial discipline in an era of escalating misinformation.
He cautioned that “the next great conflict may well be triggered by the misuse of social platforms,” calling for renewed commitment to truth and verification, and describing credible journalism as one of Nigeria’s strongest defences against chaos.
The video shared at about 22.18pm on Tuesday night had garnered over 27,000 views, 466 reposts and 81 quotes.
Late November, Tinubu ordered the withdrawal of police officers attached to Very Important Persons across the country, directing that they be redeployed to core policing duties.
While, there are no official communication or light response yet from the Presidency as of Tuesday night,that no video confirmation or acceptance that the individual Soyinka raised the alarm about is indeed Seyi Tinubu.