Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s decision to deploy the Nigerian Air Force to Benin Republic following the recent failed coup attempt aimed at removing President Patrice Talon.
Speaking on Monday at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos, Soyinka suggested—sarcastically—that the president could have simply sent his son, Seyi Tinubu, instead of mobilising military assets.
The literary icon recounted an encounter in Lagos where he observed what he described as an unusually large security formation guarding Seyi Tinubu.
Soyinka said: “President Tinubu didn’t have to send the Air Force and the military to deal with that insurrection. There were easier options. During a visit two months ago, I saw what looked like a full battalion guarding Seyi at a hotel in Ikoyi. There were at least 15 heavily armed operatives—enough to take over a small neighbouring country like Benin.”
He added that the scale of the security presence left him so surprised that he began searching for the National Security Adviser. Soyinka concluded jokingly that the president might as well instruct, ‘Seyi, go and quell the rebellion over there.’
