Tinubu’s Role in June 12 Struggle Was Heroic, Not Complicit — Presidency
The Presidency has refuted claims made by former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, accusing President Bola Tinubu of backing the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election. In a statement titled “Setting the Record Straight,” presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga described Lamido’s comments as “a distortion of history and a regrettable attempt at revisionism.”
Lamido, who served as secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)—the party under which MKO Abiola won the 1993 election—was accused of surrendering the people’s mandate by failing to resist the military regime. The statement highlighted Tinubu’s early opposition to the annulment.
On August 19, 1993, during a Senate debate, then-Senator Tinubu declared: “We have a situation that suggests that the abortion of the June 12 election is another coup d’etat… this is a self-inflicted crisis because, without the abortion or annulment of the June 12 election, there would be no crisis like this.”
He added: “The present military administration, by virtue of abrogation and violation of its own decree, has committed a crime.”
Following General Sani Abacha’s 1993 coup, Tinubu and other senators defied the junta, reconvened in Lagos, and were arrested. Tinubu later funded protests, fled into exile, and supported the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and Professor Wole Soyinka’s NALICON.
The presidency noted that “Tinubu lived in exile for nearly five years while Lamido and his ilk made deals with Abacha,” adding that Lamido’s attempt to revise history may be driven by envy.
“We do not want to believe that Alhaji Lamido suffers from what psychologists call tall poppy syndrome… The facts remain clear: President Tinubu was—and remains—a steadfast advocate for democracy,” the statement concluded.
