Activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, holds greater power than several of Nigeria’s top security chiefs.
In a post shared on his X account on Wednesday, Sowore claimed that Seyi Tinubu has more power than the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede; the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; and the Department of State Services (DSS).
Sowore further accused Seyi Tinubu of operating beyond the law, alleging that he ordered the detention of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) factional President, Atiku Abubakar Isah.
According to him, “Seyi Tinubu ordered the detention of NANS President Atiku Abubakar Isah by the DSS months after he was allegedly brutalized by Seyi Tinubu’s thugs. It took intense pressure and sustained intervention to secure his release. Seyi Tinubu wields more power than the IGP, CDS, DSS, and NSA combined — an unelected authority operating above the law.”
His comments were in response to remarks by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, who suggested that President Tinubu should have deployed Seyi — rather than the Nigerian Air Force — to Benin Republic in the wake of the recently foiled coup attempt in the country.
The development comes after Burkina Faso detained eleven Nigerian military officers and grounded a Nigerian Air Force aircraft over an alleged airspace violation before releasing them on Tuesday.
The Nigerian Air Force, however, dismissed the junta’s claims, stating that its aircraft made a precautionary landing in Bobo-Dioulasso.
