Lamido Suffers From ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’ — Tinubu Fires Back At Ex-Gov’s June 12 Claims

President Bola Tinubu has pushed back against what he called a “distortion of history” by former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, who claimed during a recent television appearance that Tinubu and his late mother supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

Speaking through Bayo Onanuga, his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Tinubu dismissed Lamido’s allegations and accused him of attempting to revise history for political purposes.

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President Bola Tinubu has pushed back against what he called a “distortion of history” by former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, who claimed during a recent television appearance that Tinubu and his late mother supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

Speaking through Bayo Onanuga, his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Tinubu dismissed Lamido’s allegations and accused him of attempting to revise history for political purposes.

Lamido, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and member of the newly-formed opposition alliance, All Democratic Alliance (ADA), made the comments during an interview on Arise TV.

He alleged that Tinubu, rather than resisting the annulment of the June 12 election, aligned with the military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, who nullified the results.

Lamido further claimed that Tinubu’s mother, Alhaja Mogaji, had mobilised Lagos market women to pledge support for Babangida at the time, against the will of the Nigerian electorate.

But the presidency denied the claim, saying “Alhaja Mogaji never mobilised market women to support the unjust annulment”.

According to Onanuga, “Had she (Tinubu’s mother) done so, she would have lost her position as market leader in Lagos.”

While acknowledging that Mogaji had a cordial relationship with Babangida in earlier years, the presidential aide insisted it was “before the annulment crisis.”

The presidency took particular issue with Lamido’s portrayal of Tinubu as a latecomer to Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement, and accused the former Jigawa of cowardly surrendering to the military during the nation’s darkest democratic hour.

At the time of the June 12 crisis, Lamido was the National Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the party under which Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola won the annulled presidential election.

Onanuga said Lamido and the then party chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, surrendered the people’s mandate without resistance and sought alliances with the defeated opposition party, the National Republican Convention (NRC).

By contrast, Onanuga said “Senator Bola Tinubu stood firm even before General Abacha dissolved the political parties and all democratic institutions, including the National Assembly, on November 17, 1993, following his coup.

“Days after General Babangida addressed the Senate and announced his decision to step aside on August 27, 1993, the setting up of an interim government to replace him, Senators debated the speech. On the Senate floor on August 19, 1993, Tinubu unequivocally condemned the annulment, describing it as another coup d’état and urging Nigerians to reject injustice and lawlessness.