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Presidency debunks Lamido’s claims, defends Tinubu’s role in June 12 struggle

| Says former SDP scribe rewriting history, capitulated to military rulers

The Presidency has strongly dismissed claims by former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, alleging that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

In a statement issued on Sunday, by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the Presidency described Lamido’s comments as “a distortion of history and a regrettable attempt at revisionism.”

Lamido, in a recent television appearance, had claimed that Tinubu only emerged on the national stage after the formation of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and accused Tinubu’s mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, of mobilising market women in support of the annulment. Both assertions were branded “patently false” by the Presidency.

“Had Alhaja Mogaji supported the annulment, she would have lost her credibility and position as market leader in Lagos,” the statement read, adding that any relationship she had with then-President Ibrahim Babangida preceded the June 12 crisis.

The statement also accused Lamido, who served as national secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)—the party under which MKO Abiola won the historic election—of failing to resist the military’s annulment. It claimed Lamido and then-SDP chairman, Tony Anenih, “wrote their names in the book of infamy” by aligning with the National Republican Convention to deny Abiola his mandate.

In contrast, the statement highlighted Senator Bola Tinubu’s consistent opposition to the annulment, referencing his outspoken condemnation of the military’s action during a Senate debate on August 19, 1993.

“The abortion of the June 12 election is another coup d’état,” Tinubu had said on the Senate floor, urging Nigerians to reject injustice and lawlessness. The records, Onanuga noted, remain publicly accessible and prove Tinubu’s pro-democracy stance.

After General Sani Abacha seized power in November 1993 and disbanded all democratic institutions, Tinubu, alongside a group of senators, defied the junta by reconvening in Lagos. They were arrested, detained at Alagbon, and later taken to court under fabricated charges.

While in detention, the statement revealed, Tinubu continued to sponsor pro-June 12 protests, including the blockade of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. When it became clear that Abacha would not honour Abiola’s mandate, Tinubu joined others to form NADECO on May 15, 1994, calling for military disengagement and the restoration of Abiola’s presidency.

The statement added that Tinubu later went into exile, living abroad for nearly five years and supporting other exiled activists and journalists, including Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka’s NALICON movement. His home in Victoria Island was reportedly bombed by agents of the Abacha regime during this period.

“Tinubu played a leading role in the agitation against the annulment,” Onanuga noted. “Many NADECO leaders and journalists, both in exile and at home, have acknowledged that Tinubu sustained them with funds throughout the struggle.”

The statement described Lamido’s comments as contradictory, noting that he admitted Tinubu’s role in NADECO while simultaneously trying to diminish his contribution to the June 12 movement.

“It is thus disappointing that Alhaji Lamido, despite acknowledging Tinubu’s NADECO role, would attempt to rewrite history for political reasons,” Onanuga said. “We do not want to believe that Alhaji Lamido suffers from what psychologists call tall poppy syndrome, but the conclusion is inevitable.”

The Presidency concluded by reaffirming that President Tinubu’s record as a pro-democracy advocate remains solid and untainted by the compromises and alliances of those who failed to resist military oppression.

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