Former Governor of Jigawa State and ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has criticized what he described as the sidelining of the true heroes of the June 12 struggle, stating that those who risked their lives during Nigeria’s most repressive military era have been forgotten.
Speaking through an excerpt from his book “Being True To Myself” (page 177), Lamido accused President Bola Tinubu and others of “hijacking” the legacy of June 12 while ignoring those who remained in Nigeria and resisted military oppression at great personal risk.
“President Tinubu and others who are now championing June 12 and celebrating it have completely forgotten about the real actors of the era who stayed put and refused to run away for fear of the military,” Lamido said.
A founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lamido argued that those now parading themselves as icons of democracy contributed little or nothing to the actual resistance.
“Amusingly, all known June 12 activists, who were then docile or ‘sidon look,’ or who had taken refuge outside Nigeria for fear of Abacha, are now among those celebrating and claiming the victory of June 12,” he wrote.
Lamido emphasized that those who openly opposed the annulment of the 1993 presidential election and resisted both the Babangida and Abacha regimes are conspicuously missing from today’s national narrative.
“Those who resisted every effort by Babangida to continue after annulling June 12, as well as those who fought Abacha, are now shamelessly being ignored, all in an attempt to rewrite history,” he said. “No amount of deconstruction or reconstruction to stand history on its head can bury the truth.”
In a direct reference to President Tinubu’s 2024 Democracy Day address, Lamido questioned the inclusion of names he claimed had little or no involvement in the struggle. “It must be clearly understood that there was June 11 before June 12!” he declared.
He alleged that many individuals now hailed for their roles in the June 12 saga, including President Tinubu, were notably absent during the campaign efforts that led to the victory of Chief Moshood Abiola under the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
“In the campaigns we undertook in all the states of the federation, none of them were there—not even President Tinubu himself. Babagana Kingibe can attest to this,” Lamido noted.
He also accused members of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) of reducing what was once a national movement to a regional cause.
“The elements in NADECO simply snatched away the finished product at the end of the mill, and by so doing, sectionalized, trivialized, and diminished an otherwise national sacrifice,” he stated.
Lamido further condemned what he termed the ethnic framing of the June 12 legacy, stating, “They believed more in the bath water than the baby.”
