Tinubu supported Babangida’s annulment of June 12 election — Lamido
By Jeffrey Agbo
Former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, has accused President Bola Tinubu of supporting the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and dismissed claims that Tinubu played a key role in Nigeria’s early pro-democracy movement.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Saturday, Lamido alleged that Tinubu, then a senator under the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was aligned with General Ibrahim Babangida, the former military ruler who annulled the election believed to have been won by MKO Abiola.
“Luckily, we were all alive. We were all there and participants in that affair of political history. I was in the middle of it,” Lamido said.
“Tinubu became relevant and noticeable after Abacha took over the government,” he added.
“With all respect to him, he was part of those people who supported Babangida’s annulment of June 12.
“He was part of them. His own mother, Haija Mogaji from Lagos, organised the Lagos market women to Abuja to support Babangida.
“I’m saying this because it is history. I mean no harm or disrespect.”
Lamido expressed skepticism over Tinubu’s repeated claims of playing a leading role in the democratic resistance following the annulment, suggesting instead that the President’s narrative is more fiction than fact.
He said, “I feel highly entertained by Tinubu’s rhetoric. The way he is dramatising his own role in Nigerian democracy.
”He was actively hand-in-glove with Babangida.
“Tinubu, after being Nigerian president, decided to rewrite and deconstruct history. It is very amusing.
“He was part of Babangida’s supporters on June 12. It was when Abacha took over the government that Tinubu became the so-called activist of June 12.”
He also cast doubt on the credibility of members of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a group Tinubu would later join, saying they only rose to prominence after General Sani Abacha’s rise to power.
“All those NADECO (activists), where were they on June 11? Lamido asked.
“They were not part of the June 12 campaign and activities. He was a major supporter of Babangida.”
Lamido further stated that while he and others remained in the country to resist the military regime, “Tinubu ran away from the country.”
The ex-governor declared his readiness to join forces with others to unseat Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
