REWIND: In 2019, Max Siollun wrote how Tinubu, his mother begged IBB to reverse June 12 annulment

New revelations have emerged about President Bola Tinubu’s role in the struggle to actualise the June 12 presidential election, which was annulled by then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida.

Max Siollun, a British-Nigerian author and historian, in his book ‘Nigeria’s Soldiers of Fortune: The Abacha and Obasanjo Years’, recounts how Tinubu – then a senator elected on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) – and his late mother, Abibatu Mogaji, travelled to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, to beg Babangida to reverse the annulment of the June 12 election.

Siollun’s book, which x-rays Nigerian history from 1993 to 2003, was published in 2019.

The June 12 presidential election, widely regarded as the freest and fairest poll in the history of Nigeria, was won by the late MKO Abiola, the candidate of the SDP.

The book also highlights the personality-driven conflicts between three protagonists — MKO Abiola, Sani Abacha, and Olusegun Obasanjo.

In chapter 3 of the book titled ‘82 Days’, Siollun narrates how the late MKO Abiola made efforts to ensure that the annulled election was restored.

He said Tinubu was not happy that the 1993 election was annulled by Babangida, following which he took his mother to plead with the military president in Abuja to restore Abiola’s mandate.

The author said Tinubu’s mother, a devout Muslim, removed his headscarf in front of Babangida to beg him to restore the annulled election.

“Amidst the chaos, Abiola turned to the judiciary to try to validate his election victory. Although he was initially cynical about the prospect of Abiola as president, a young senator representing the Lagos West district had become one of Abiola’s key allies. That senator was Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” part of Chapter 3 of Siollun’s book reads.

“He became so close to Abiola and was so aggrieved by the annulment that earlier in 1993 he took his elderly mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, with him to a meeting in Abuja with Babangida to appeal for the annulment to be rescinded.

“His mother was the former president-general of the Association of Nigerian Market Women and Men and had been active in mobilising strikes by traders.

“Although she was a Muslim, she removed her headscarf in Babangida’s presence to plead with him to validate Abiola’s election victory.

“Newspapers published an iconic photo of the grey-haired septuagenarian grandmother pleading with the younger president on Abiola’s behalf. Although he and his mother’s emotional appeals failed to persuade the military.”

The excerpt of the book was posted on Sunday on X by Tolu Ogunlesi, a former presidential aide.

Sule Lamido, the former governor of Jigawa, reignited public discourse on the June 12, 1993, presidential election on Saturday.

In an interview on Arise Television, Lamido said Tinubu supported Babangida in the annulment of the June 12 presidential election.

The former governor claimed that Tinubu was not among the pro-democracy activists who resisted the annulment.

He also alleged that Tinubu’s mother organised a rally of Lagos market women in Abuja to support Babangida.

Lamido was the national secretary of the SDP at the time.

However, in a response, the presidency described the allegations by Lamido as “patently false”.

Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesman, said Lamido colluded with the National Republican Convention (NRC) to surrender the mandate won by the SDP to the military government.

Onanuga said Tinubu, who was then a senator, opposed the annulment on the floor of the national assembly where he described it as “injustice” and a “coup d’etat”.

Recently, the president honoured several individuals for their roles in the June 12 struggle and broader democratic movements.