The June 12 1993 political crisis is a contemporary history. According to historians, there are three major sources of history; written, oral or remembered, and dug up history. The history of June 12, 1993, satisfies all these three conditions.
That revisionists, therefore, attempt to rewrite the history is very unfortunate more so that journalists who covered the whole episode of June 12 are still around to “put the ball back to the centre.”
As one of the privileged recorders of that history, therefore, one felt uncomfortable when a former governor of Jigawa State, Hon. Sule Lamido recently attempted to rewrite the history of June 12 struggle.
He accused one of the pillars of the struggle, President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of lobbying General Sanni Abacha for a political appointment after Chief Ernest Shonekan’s Interim government was sacked on November 17, 1993, after 82 days in office, by Justice Dolapo Akinsanya. She had ordered that the winner of the June 12 presidential election be sworn in as recognised by law.
But instead of implementing the ruling, General Abacha gate crashed into the State House and proclaimed himself, Head of State.
It might be recalled that when Shonekan was the head of state, the National Assembly as the most significant symbol of democracy was in session. The Senate President was Iyorchia Ayuu and later Senator Ameh Ebute, while Senator Bola Tinubu was the Senate Leader.
It is significant to note that while members of the civil society, trade unions , human rights activists, and students’ bodies were fighting Shonekan outside the walls of the National Assembly, the Senate was fighting him from within.
The final battle the Senate had with Shonekan was the boycott of his budget presentation. On that day, Shonekan had arrived at the temporary chamber of the House of Representatives in Area 10 Garki only to meet a virtually empty chamber following the total boycott by Senators. Only a few members of the House of Representatives were seated and was presided over by the Speaker, Agunwa Anekwe instead of the Senate President.To make Shonekan comfortable, civil servants were drafted into the chamber to occupy empty seats of Senators.
At the end of his presentation, I asked Shonekan how he felt with the boycott of the presentation by the Senate. He said, “When I came, I met people and presented my budget.”
It should also be noted that as the Senate Leader, Bola Tinubu was the chief lobbyist and mobiliser against Shonekan and his interim government.
Following the capture of power by Abacha instead of swearing in Basorun MKO Abiola as directed by Justice Akinsanya, the next battle ground shifted to the formation of NADECO in which Bola Tinubu was not only very active but also a major financier.
In page 162 of a book published by NAPOC, Aborted Third Republic, President Bola Tinubu narrated how he took four years’ leave of absence from Mobil Oil to contest election into the Senate in 1992. He said, “The day we were to be inaugurated, I was picked to speak for the SDP. I was frontal with the military government that they have a great opportunity to return Nigeria to democracy. We have been elected, and there is nothing you can do about it. You have to find a way to inaugurate us and then plan your exit’.*
He said after he had finished his address, General Ibrahim Babangida came down from the podium and gave him a handshake, which he said was uncommon with military personnel and said,’I like your courage and boldness.”
On how NADECO was being funded, Bola Tinubu said, “We were the financiers. I had some investments then. Pa Alfred Rewane was one of the financiers. I had two filling stations in London, which my wife was managing.
One would conclude that It was either Sule Lamido was ignorant of this sacrifice by Tinubu or economical with the truth. Even though politics may be a game of mudsling, a gentleman’s failing must always lean on virtue’s side because truth is not only constant but also supreme.
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