The Presidency has strongly refuted recent claims by former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, accusing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of supporting the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, calling them “a distortion of history and a regrettable attempt at revisionism.”
In a detailed statement released on Saturday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, dismissed Lamido’s allegations—made during a recent television appearance—as “patently false,” especially claims that Tinubu’s late mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, mobilised market women to support the annulment.
“Let us set the record straight: Alhaja Mogaji never mobilised market women to support the unjust annulment. Had she done so, she would have lost her position as market leader in Lagos,” the statement said, clarifying that while she previously had a relationship with former President Babangida, it ended before the annulment crisis.
The statement further turned the spotlight on Lamido’s own role during the period, accusing him and the then SDP Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, of surrendering the party’s mandate without resistance. “To their eternal shame, Lamido and Anenih teamed up with the defeated NRC to deny Abiola his mandate,” Onanuga stated.
In contrast, Onanuga highlighted President Tinubu’s active opposition to the annulment while serving as a Senator. Quoting from Senate records of August 19, 1993, he recalled Tinubu’s words: “The abortion of the June 12 election is another coup d’etat… the present military administration… has committed a crime.”
Following Abacha’s November 17, 1993 coup, Tinubu reportedly defied the military junta, reconvening with other senators in Lagos and later being arrested. While in detention, Tinubu was said to have continued funding pro-June 12 protests. After escaping into exile, Tinubu’s home in Lagos was bombed, and he supported the formation and operations of NADECO and Wole Soyinka’s NALICON, sustaining many exiled activists financially.
“Thankfully, Lamido admitted that Tinubu played a significant role in NADECO. Indeed, Tinubu did more,” Onanuga stated. “It is well-known that Tinubu played a leading role in the agitation against the June 12 annulment. Many NADECO leaders and journalists in exile and at home openly admitted that Tinubu sustained them and provided them with funds for the struggle.”
He dismissed Lamido’s criticism as “politically motivated revisionism,” saying the former governor belonged to “the coalition of the disgruntled” and warned that such distortion of history serves neither truth nor national interest.
“The facts remain clear: President Tinubu was—and remains—a steadfast advocate for democracy, in contrast to the record of Lamido and others who capitulated in the face of military oppression and intimidation,” Onanuga concluded.
