The Democratic Front (TDF) has lent its voice to the controversy raised by former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, over the role President Bola Tinubu allegedly played in issues surrounding the annulment of the June 12 presidential election of 1993.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, the pro-democracy group argued that Lamido did not provide any convincing proof to back up his claim against the President.
“We note that Lamido could not establish any factual evidence while narrating his falsified account of the June debacle when accusing President Tinubu of supporting the annulment of the June 12 election. He did nothing beyond mere speculation and gave conflicting testimonies in his Arise TV interview.
“We therefore hasten to say that the former governor of Jigawa State exhibited traits of irresponsibility and selective amnesia, to have claimed that President Tinubu’s membership of the Senate that was addressed by the then military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1993, was enough evidence of his Tinubu’s support for the annulment of the election.
“It is pertinent to recall that former military President Babangida undertook a wide range of consultations with prominent Nigerians in his desperate bid to douse the political impasse and tension that greeted the annulment of the election that was acclaimed to be the freest, fairest, and most credible in the country’s history.
“We also remember that top among the notable personalities that were invited to meet with the then military President on the issue, were the late Sultan of Sokoto Ibrahim Dasuki, the late Oni of Ife Okunade Sijuade, the matriarch of the Awolowo family, late Hannah Awolowo, and the late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji among several other Nigerians.
“In our view, Lamido displayed a shallow knowledge of the historical circumstances that contrived the visit of the aforementioned personalities to the then military dictator, by scapegoating the late Alhaja Mogaji, the mother of President Tinubu, in a mischievous attempt to slander the President.
“The role President Tinubu played in the struggle to actualise the popular mandate of MKO Abiola after the annulment was legendary and is of public knowledge. Tinubu was a major financier as well as an activist in the struggle to pressure the military junta to relinquish political power to Abiola. He was detained and also marked for elimination before he fled into exile,” the statement added.
TDF wondered why Lamido’s position on President Tinubu’s role in the pro democracy struggle was different from that of active participants in the struggle.
It said: “Prominent activists in the June 12 struggle, like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi and Femi Falana (SAN), etc, have repeatedly paid glowing tribute and honour to Tinubu’s immense contributions and efforts to the democratic struggle, from exile. This undisputable pedigree of credit and recognition of his contributions to the June 12 struggle, more than anything, renders Sule Lamido’s accusations against the President, spurious, groundless, meritless, unfounded, and untenable.
“Furthermore, The Democratic Front (TDF) finds it appropriate to assert that Sule Lamido’s grudge and bitterness against President Tinubu dates back to the 1991 governorship election in Jigawa State, in which he contested the SDP primary alongside Alh. Ali Sa’ad Birnin- Kudu, who was favoured by the late Gen. Shehu Yar’adua, the head of President Tinubu’s erstwhile political family.
“Since his defeat in the SDP governorship primary in 1991, Lamido was alleged to have resolved to sabotage the defunct Social Democratic Party. As the party’s National Secretary, he aided the cancellation of presidential primaries that Yar’adua took part in and actively joined other compromised members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to support the annulment of Abiola’s presidential victory.
“At a time, President Tinubu and other pro-democracy activists aligned with late Moshood Abiola against the annulment of the election, the compromised SDP leadership, which Sule Lamido was part of, connived with the military regime to frustrate Abiola’s attempts to mobilise against Babangida’s decision to annul the election.”
The group insisted that it was Sule Lamido who could be accused of sabotaging Abiola, even as National Secretary of the defunct SDP.
