Sule Lamido: Tinubu rewriting history… he supported June 12 annulment

Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, says President Bola Tinubu supported Ibrahim Babangida, former military head of state, in the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election.

Speaking in an interview on Arise Television on Saturday, Lamido said Tinubu was not among the pro-democracy activists who resisted the annulment.

The election, widely regarded as the most credible in Nigeria’s history, was presumably won by MKO Abiola, the flagbearer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

It was, however, annulled by the military regime of Babangida — a development that led to many years of civil agitations.

During the election, Tinubu was a senator on the platform of the SDP while Lamido was the party’s national secretary.

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

Speaking on the pro-democracy fight, Lamido said Tinubu became relevant after Sani Abacha, the former military leader, took over power.

The former Jigawa governor described Tinubu as a “major supporter” of Babangida.

He said many of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) activists were not part of the June 12 campaign against the military administration of Babangida.

Lamido claimed that NADECO came to the limelight during the resistance of the military administration of Abacha.

He added that it is amusing that Tinubu is “dramatising his own role in Nigerian democracy”.

“I feel highly entertained by Tinubu’s rhetoric. The way he is dramatising his own role in Nigerian democracy,” he said.

“Luckily, we were all alive. We were all there and participants in that affair of political history. I was in the middle of it. Tinubu became relevant and noticeable after Abacha took over the government.

“With all respect to him, he was part of those people who supported Babangida’s annulment of June 12. He was part of them. His own mother, Haija Mogaji from Lagos, organised the Lagos market women to Abuja to support Babangida.

“I’m saying this because it is history. I mean no harm or disrespect. He was actively hand-in-glove with Babangida. Tinubu, after being Nigerian president, decided to rewrite and deconstruct history. It is very amusing.

“He was part of Babangida’s supporters on June 12. It was when Abacha took over the government that Tinubu became the so-called activist of June 12.

“All those NADECO (activists), where were they on June 11? They were not part of the June 12 campaign and activities. He was a major supporter of Babangida.”

Lamido claimed that Tinubu “ran away from the country” during the days of anti-military protests when he(Lamido) and others stayed back to fight the junta.

He added that he is ready to join any political arrangement to remove Tinubu from office in 2027.