The Presidency on Sunday issued a detailed rebuttal following former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido’s recent televised claims accusing President Bola Tinubu of supporting the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
According to a statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency categorically denied Lamido’s allegations, describing them as a distortion of history and political revisionism.
The Presidency said, Lamido’s assertion that Tinubu only rose to prominence after the formation of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and that Tinubu’s mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, mobilised market women to support the annulment are “patently false.”
The statement stressed that had Mogaji supported the annulment, she would have lost her position as market leader in Lagos, and her relationship with then-President Babangida predated the annulment crisis.
The statement highlighted Lamido’s own controversial role during the crisis, noting that as national secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)—the party whose candidate, MKO Abiola, won the election—he and other SDP leaders failed to oppose the military’s annulment of the mandate.
It accused Lamido and SDP chairman Tony Anenih of “surrendering the people’s mandate without resistance” and collaborating with the defeated National Republican Convention to deny Abiola’s mandate.
In stark contrast, the Presidency recalled Tinubu’s firm stance against the annulment. On August 19, 1993, days after Babangida announced his decision to step aside, Tinubu condemned the annulment on the Senate floor as “another coup d’état,” urging Nigerians to reject injustice and lawlessness.
He said: “We have a situation that suggests that the abortion of the June 12 election is another coup d’etat… We have a government that made the law and abused its law. Therefore, the present military administration… has committed a crime.”
The statement further detailed Tinubu’s defiance after General Sani Abacha’s November 1993 coup, including reconvening the dissolved Senate in Lagos and being arrested alongside other senators. While detained, Tinubu continued to fund pro-June 12 protests, including the blockade of the Third Mainland Bridge.
The Presidency also underscored Tinubu’s critical role in founding NADECO in May 1994, a coalition that demanded the military government step down in favour of Abiola. It highlighted that Tinubu lived in exile for nearly five years due to his activism, during which his home was bombed by agents of the military junta.
The statement praised Tinubu’s support for other pro-democracy efforts, including backing Wole Soyinka’s NALICON.
The Presidency concludes by accusing Lamido of “rewriting history for political reasons” and warns him to verify facts before making public statements. It suggested Lamido’s criticism stems from “tall poppy syndrome” and envy of Tinubu’s democratic credentials, reaffirming that Tinubu “was—and remains—a steadfast advocate for democracy,” unlike Lamido and others who capitulated under military pressure.