By John Ogunsemore

Ose Anenih, the son of former Minister of Works, Chief Tony Anenih, has faulted the presidency’s portrayal of his father’s role in the June 12 struggle.

The younger Anenih conveyed his thoughts in a counter-statement issued on Sunday and posted on X.

He was reacting to an earlier statement by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

Onanuga had claimed that Chief Tony Anenih and Alhaji Sule Lamido, Chairman and Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) respectively, surrendered the people’s mandate to the military regime of General Sani Abacha without putting up a fight.

The presidential statement was issued to refute Lamido’s claim that President Bola Tinubu supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election presumably won by Bashorun MKO Abiola.

The presidential aide said, “It is important to remind Nigerians that Alhaji Lamido, as secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)—the party whose candidate, MKO Abiola, won the June 12 election—was among those who failed to oppose the military’s injustice.

“The SDP leadership, including Lamido and chairman Tony Anenih, wrote their names in the book of infamy by surrendering the people’s mandate without resistance.

“To their eternal shame, Lamido and Anenih teamed up with the defeated National Republican Convention to deny Abiola his mandate.”

Reacting, Ose Anenih described the presidential statement as “ahistorical” and the claims about his father as “untrue”.

Addressing Onanuga, the younger Anenih said, “Chief Abiola initially fled the country after the annulment of the June 12 presidential elections by Gen. Babangida. You mentioned that MKO eventually returned. When he did, one of his first visits was to my father, then National Chairman of the SDP, in Benin City.

“True to form, my father confronted Abiola. He accused him, to his face, of abandoning the party and its supporters in the immediate aftermath of the annulment while they risked life and limb defending his mandate.

“Abiola’s public response? ‘A bird does not tell his friends that the stone is coming.’

“My father also told me of another conversation, one in which he warned Abiola that his increasingly close dealings with Gen. Abacha would ultimately destroy his chances of reclaiming his mandate.

“At that time, both parties (SDP and NRC) had negotiated for an Interim National Government with the understanding that it would eventually hand over power to Abiola. MKO walked in step-lock with this arrangement, in fact strategically ring-fencing a few sensitive ministerial portfolios for himself. But Abiola perhaps grew impatient of waiting; and decided to pursue a different path.

“According to Anenih, when he warned Abiola of the folly in trusting the military, Abiola told him: ‘Whether you go by plane or by car, what matters is that you get to Kano.’

“The ING, to Abiola, was a road trip. Abacha’s military coup, which Abiola publicly encouraged, he regarded as a private jet.”

Ose Anenih noted that Abiola was one of the first to visit and congratulate Abacha after he overthrew the ING and seized power.

“Now, I am not aware of any animosity that ever existed between my father and President Tinubu. In fact, my father acknowledged that Tinubu had initially spoken out against the delay in announcing the results of the June 12 election.

“It was the only time he mentioned Tinubu in his 260 page book.

“I have no personal knowledge of what role your principal played after that, though I find it curious that you consider his early visit to Abacha, immediately after a coup to remove the ING he (MKO) helped birth, a mark of honour.

“Like Lamido said, many of the key players in that chapter of our history like IBB, Abdulsalami, Oyegun, Ikimi, Mark, Ayu, Dele Momodu, and others – including Kola, MKO’s son – are still alive. We are also fortunate that my father wrote his own version of events before he passed.

“It is however unfortunate that I have had to defend my father’s name against a lie, and doubly unfortunate that that lie was issued in the name of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”