Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka has said President Bola Tinubu should have sent his son, Seyi to Benin Republic to “quell” the foiled attempted military coup.
Soyinka faulted Tinubu’s decision of sending the Nigeria Air Force to Benin Republic in the wake of the failed attempted coup aimed at ousting President Patrice Talon from office.
He spoke at the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos on Monday.
The novel laureate recalled seeing heavily armed security personnel guarding Seyi Tinubu in Lagos.
He said: “President Tinubu didn’t have to send the Air Force and Military to deal with the insurrection to our sense of security and equilibrium; no there are easier ways of doing it.
“Let me tell you where Tinubu should have looked for forces to quell that insurrection, right here in Lagos or in Abuja perhaps, but there was no need to call the military or the Air Force.
“I will tell you what happened in one of my home visits just two months ago, I was coming out of a hotel and I saw what looked like a film set, a young man detached himself from the actors and came over to greet me very nicely politely.
“I looked around and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the ground of that hotel in Ikoyi. So I got back in my car and asked who that young man was and he told me.
“I saw the SWAT team, a mixture of heavily armed, at least 15 heavily armed to the teeth security personnel, looked sufficient to take over a small neighbouring country like Benin.
“I think the next time the president should just call and say ‘Seyi go and quell the rebellion over there’. I was so astonished that I started looking for the NSA.”
