The Presidency has strongly rebutted recent remarks by former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of supporting the annulment of the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election.
In a televised interview, Lamido alleged that President Tinubu only became politically prominent after the formation of the pro-democracy group NADECO and further claimed that his mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, mobilised market women in support of the annulment. The Presidency described these statements as “patently false” and “an unfortunate distortion of history.”
According to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Alhaja Mogaji never supported the annulment. “Had she done so, she would have lost her standing as the respected leader of market women in Lagos,” he said. Onanuga clarified that her prior personal association with then-military ruler General Babangida ended before the June 12 crisis.
The statement further accused Lamido of hypocrisy, noting that as Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)—the party whose candidate, MKO Abiola, won the annulled election—Lamido and the then-party chairman, Tony Anenih, failed to defend the people’s mandate and instead cooperated with the losing National Republican Convention.
“Unlike Lamido, Senator Tinubu vocally opposed the annulment on the floor of the Senate,” the Presidency stated. On August 19, 1993, Tinubu condemned the annulment as “another coup d’état” and called for justice, denouncing the military’s abuse of public trust.
Following General Abacha’s coup and dissolution of democratic structures in November 1993, Tinubu and other lawmakers reconvened in Lagos in defiance. He was subsequently arrested, detained, and falsely charged. While in detention, he continued funding pro-June 12 protests, including the blockade of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
After Abacha reneged on promises to restore Abiola’s mandate, NADECO (National Democratic Coalition) was formed in May 1994. Tinubu not only played a leading role in the movement but also provided material support to NALICON, led by Prof. Wole Soyinka, and to journalists and activists in exile. Tinubu himself fled into exile for nearly five years following the bombing of his residence by state agents.
The Presidency criticized Lamido for acknowledging Tinubu’s NADECO role while simultaneously attempting to discredit him. “Lamido appears to suffer from tall poppy syndrome, undermining those whose democratic credentials outshine his own,” the statement said.
It concluded by urging Lamido and others in what it described as the “Coalition of the Disgruntled” to desist from spreading revisionist narratives for political gain.
“President Tinubu was — and remains — a committed democrat who risked his freedom for the restoration of June 12. The same cannot be said for those who negotiated with the oppressors,” the statement added.
