Serial presidential election contester Omoyele Sowore, has knocked Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Bola Tinubu, claiming that weilds more power than the IGP, CDS, DSS, and NSA combined.
He made his claim via a tweet on his X handle while reacting to a now circulating video where Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has raised concerns over what he views as an unnecessary and disproportionate security presence around members of President Bola Tinubu’s family.
Speaking at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos on Tuesday, Soyinka recounted a recent experience at a hotel in Ikoyi, where he encountered what he described as a “battalion-level” security detail attached to the president’s son.
“I was coming out of my hotel, and I saw what looked like a film set,” he said.
“A young man detached himself from the actors, came over and greeted me politely. When I asked if they were shooting a film, he said no. I looked around and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the hotel grounds.”
Soyinka said he counted about 15 heavily armed operatives forming a tight security ring around the president’s son, a level of force he found unsettling.
Soyinka continued saying, “When I got back in my car and asked the driver who the young man was, he told me. And I saw this SWAT team, heavily armed to the teeth. They looked sufficient to take over a neighbouring small country or city like Benin.
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“I began looking for the NSA immediately. I said, track him down for me. They got him somewhere in Paris, but he was in a meeting with the president. I described the scene and asked: ‘Do you mean a child of the head of state goes around with an army for his protection?’ I couldn’t believe it.”
Soyinka, in a tone laced with sarcasm, suggested that the federal government need not deploy the military or air force to quell threats in neighbouring countries when such a formidable force already escorts the president’s son.
“Tinubu didn’t have to send the air force or military to deal with any insurrection. There is an easier way,” he said.
“Next time there’s an uprising, the president should call that young man and say, ‘Seyi, go and put down those stupid people there. You have troops under your command.’”
Reacting to Soyinka’s view, Sowore said: “Seyi Tinubu ordered the detention of NANS President Atiku Abubakar Isah by the #OfficialDSSNG months after he was allegedly brutalised by #STinubu thugs. It took intense pressure and sustained intervention to secure his release. Seyi Tinubu wield more power than the IGP, CDS, DSS, and NSA combined, an unelected authority operating above the law.”
