The Tinubu Dynasty: When Family Entitlements Eclipse National Duty

DDNews Editorial
By Ogungbayi Adeyemi Beedee

In the grand theater of Nigerian democracy, where the presidency should symbolize selfless service to 220 million souls, a troubling script unfolds: the Tinubu family, ensconced in Aso Rock’s shadows, increasingly scripts itself as the star, director, and audience all in one. This week, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka’s sharp rebuke of the “excessive” security battalion shadowing Seyi Tinubu the President’s son has ignited a firestorm, likening the entourage to a force “sufficient to take over a small neighbouring country like Benin.” Meanwhile, a viral video captures First Lady Oluremi Tinubu publicly hectoring Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke mid-speech at the Ooni of Ife’s coronation anniversary to “stop singing” or risk having his microphone “switched off,” capping it with a curt “five minutes” ultimatum. These are not isolated faux pas; they are symptoms of a creeping dynastic entitlement that treats the presidency as a family fiefdom, where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mandate is conflated with unchecked familial privilege. Nigeria did not elect a Tinubu clan we elected one man to lead, not a lineage to lord.

Soyinka’s encounter in Lagos paints a vivid, if absurd, portrait: A convoy of at least 15 heavily armed SWAT officers, armored vehicles, and tactical units enveloping a “young man” who turned out to be Seyi Tinubu. Disturbed, the playwright even rang National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu to probe if this was an “official deployment,” only to learn it was personal protection for the First Son. “Children must understand their place,” Soyinka thundered. “They are not elected leaders, and they must not inherit the architecture of state power simply by proximity.” His quip that Tinubu could have dispatched Seyi’s phalanx to foil the recent Benin Republic coup attempt instead of mobilizing the Nigerian Air Force and ground troops stings with truth, especially as the Senate just approved that very deployment. In a nation where brigadier generals fall to ISWAP blades and schoolchildren vanish into bandit forests, deploying state resources to cocoon one unelected scion mocks our collective peril.

No less galling is Remi Tinubu’s onstage intervention at the Ooni’s palace, where Adeleke preparing to deliver a tribute laced with song, in true Osun spirit was first whispered to, then sternly warned: “Don’t waste my time here… ewo ni orin oshi” (what is this rubbish song?). The governor, visibly flustered, complied, but the damage was done: A sitting chief executive, on his home turf, publicly diminished before dignitaries and a global audience. PDP chieftain Dele Momodu decried it as “totally repugnant… to openly disgrace, insult, and bully the Chief Executive of Osun State,” while netizens branded it “textbook bullying” and “constitutionally wrong.” Remi’s retort? A Facebook missive urging followers not to “amplify my minor missteps,” as if interrupting an elected governor is a mere wardrobe malfunction. Osun’s government has stayed mum, but the humiliation lingers, a stark reminder that federal might should not trample state dignity.

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These episodes are threads in a larger tapestry of nepotism that threatens to unravel the republic. Seyi’s convoy eclipses even foreign dignitaries’, fueling whispers of state capture where family whims dictate national resources. Recall his alleged role in the months-long DSS detention of NANS President Atiku Abubakar Isah after a brutalization claim, or the broader pattern: Family members and allies in cabinet posts, from daughters to sons-in-law, sidelining merit for bloodlines. Critics like Reno Omokri, once a fierce foe, now pivot to praise, exposing the rot of patronage. Even Tinubu’s November decree barring VIP police escorts hailed as reform feels hollow when exemptions mysteriously shield the inner circle. As Soyinka warns, this is not entitlement; it’s erosion turning the presidency into a hereditary hustle, where “ST” (Seyi Tinubu) commands battalions while bandits commandeer schools.

President Tinubu, your 2023 victory was a covenant with the weary: Renewed hope, not renewed hubris. The constitution vests power in you, not your kin; Nigeria’s badge is the green-white-green, not the family crest. Rein in these excesses: Cap familial security to constitutional minima, enforce decorum codes for the First Family, and probe appointments through independent vetting. Shun the mafia machinations of old state capture via violence and kickbacks, as one analyst notes and embrace transparency that fortifies, not familiars.

The Benin coup was quelled by professional forces, not princelings; Adeleke’s stage was no playground for petulance. Mr. President, assert your solo sovereignty or risk a dynasty’s fall dragging the nation down. Nigeria endures not by blood, but by balanced power. Heed the laureate’s lament: Proximity to the throne is no license to usurp it. The people watch, placards at the ready. Act, before the echoes of #EndBadGovernance swell anew.