The Presidency has responded to claims by former Governor Sule Lamido that President Bola Tinubu supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, said Lamido’s allegations are “patently false” and represent a “distortion of history.”
“Alhaja Mogaji never mobilised market women to support the unjust annulment,”* Onanuga said, adding that Tinubu’s mother would have lost her position as market leader in Lagos if she had done so.
The presidency highlighted Tinubu’s role in condemning the annulment on the Senate floor on August 19, 1993, saying, “We have a situation that suggests that the abortion of the June 12 election is another coup d’etat.”
Onanuga also noted that Tinubu continued to fund pro-June 12 protests in Lagos, including the blockade of the Third Mainland Bridge, while in police detention.
“Tinubu lived in exile for nearly five years while Lamido and his ilk made deals with Abacha,”* he added.
The Presidency advised Lamido to check his facts before spreading falsehoods, suggesting that he may be suffering from “tall poppy syndrome” due to envy of Tinubu’s democratic credentials. “Revisionism does not serve the cause of truth or our nation’s interests,” Onanuga concluded.