Presidency Reacts to Lamido’s Claim That Tinubu Backed June 12 Annulment

By Arthur Maduka

The Presidency has rejected recent allegations made by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, accusing President Bola Tinubu of supporting the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. In a strongly worded statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the Presidency described Lamido’s remarks as “a distortion of history and a regrettable attempt at revisionism.”

Lamido had claimed during a television interview that Tinubu, along with his late mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, supported the annulment orchestrated by then military ruler Ibrahim Babangida. The Presidency denied this, stating that Alhaja Mogaji never mobilized market women to support the annulment and insisting that any ties she had with Babangida ended before the political crisis.

The statement turned the spotlight on Lamido’s own role as then National Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the party whose candidate MKO Abiola won the election. Onanuga accused Lamido and SDP chairman Tony Anenih of surrendering to the military regime without resistance, thereby betraying the will of Nigerians. “They wrote their names in the book of infamy,” Onanuga said.

In contrast, the Presidency highlighted Tinubu’s firm opposition to the annulment. It recalled his statement on the floor of the Senate on August 19, 1993, where he described the annulment as a coup d’état and urged Nigerians to reject injustice. Tinubu reportedly said, “This is a self-inflicted crisis because, without the abortion or annulment of the June 12 election, there would be no crisis like this.”

The statement also emphasized Tinubu’s continued defiance after General Sani Abacha overthrew the interim government later that year. Tinubu was arrested and detained for his resistance alongside other senators, while continuing to fund pro-democracy protests. He eventually went into exile after the regime targeted his home with a bomb attack.

The Presidency further clarified that NADECO—the pro-democracy coalition Tinubu helped form in May 1994—was created to demand the restoration of Abiola’s mandate. It also noted that Tinubu supported other international efforts, including Wole Soyinka’s NALICON movement, and helped fund the struggle from abroad.

The statement concluded by accusing Lamido of political envy and aligning with what it called the “Coalition of the Disgruntled.” It advised him to check his facts and avoid what it described as “revisionism,” which, it said, neither serves the truth nor national interest.