Sule Lamido suffering memory loss, his June 12 submission dishonest— Dele Alake

Sule Lamido suffering memory loss, his June 12 submission dishonest— Dele Alake

 Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals development, says
Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, is suffering from memory loss.

 

On Saturday, Lamido claimed that President Bola Tinubu
supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

 

Speaking during an Arise Television interview on Sunday,
Alake described Lamido’s narrative as “false, revisionist and historically
dishonest”.

 

The minister insisted that Tinubu was a central figure in
the fight to actualise MKO Abiola’s mandate.

 

 

“I feel very appalled at his own submissions, which I would
ascribe largely to selective amnesia at best, or at the very worst, an
impairment of the medulla oblongata — or memory loss in layman’s terms,” Alake
said.

 

He said it was ironic that Lamido, who was national
secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), dared to accuse Tinubu of
betrayal when he and the party’s leadership “capitulated to the military”.

 

Alake said he wrote Abiola’s first public declaration of
interest to contest the 1993 election as editor of Sunday Concord, and has
first-hand knowledge of the events of the time.

 

 

He added that Tinubu was fully committed to the
pro-democracy movement before, during, and after the election, restating that
the current president played a vital role in persuading Atiku Abubakar to step
down for Abiola during the SDP primaries.

 

Alake dismissed Lamido’s claim that Tinubu’s mother, the
late Abibatu Mogaji, mobilised support for the annulment, as “completely
untrue”.

 

“Alhaja Abibat Mogaji was a very prominent and important
market leader in Lagos who commanded large following among the women folk and
market people in Lagos,” he said.

 

“Obviously, there was no government pre-IBB that did not
seek the endorsement or support of Alhaja Mogaji’s large movement in Lagos at
the time. Now, Alhaja Mogaji, IBB also, as a government, as a leader, sought
the support of the market women.

 

 

“However, on the annulment of June 12, I recall vividly that
Alhaja Mogaji not only begged IBB, she came to Abuja to kneel down and weep
before IBB.

 

“It was to beg IBB to reverse the annulment, and we were all
witnesses anyway to when she left and came back and gave the report. That was
what happened.”

 

Alake said Tinubu not only condemned the annulment as a
senator, but also helped organise mass protests against the decision, before
Sani Abacha seized power in November 1993.

 

“Tinubu was one of the organisers and funders of the July
1993 protests,” he said.

 

 

“He confronted the military head-on and eventually had to
flee the country when Abacha’s regime declared him wanted — dead or alive.”

 

Alake said Lamido and the late Tony Anenih traded off
Abiola’s mandate by endorsing the Interim National Government (ING) set up by
Ibrahim Babangida.

 

 

The minister said Tinubu continued to support the struggle
from exile, funding the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and other resistance
movements.

 

He noted that Tinubu even accompanied Abiola to meet Abacha
to negotiate a return of the mandate, questioning how someone supposedly
supporting Abacha could have done that.

 

 

“If Tinubu was loyal to Abacha, would he be confronting him?
Why was there an arrest order on him?” he asked.

 

Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesperson, had also accused
Lamido of trying to rewrite history for political reasons.

 

“Alhaji Lamido’s claims represent a distortion of history
and a regrettable attempt at revisionism,” he said.

 

The president’s aide said Tinubu’s contributions to the June
12 struggle are well-documented.h

Source: Sule Lamido suffering memory loss, his June 12 submission dishonest— Dele Alake

 - NigerianEye
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