SULE LAMIDO URGES TINUBU TO PAY ABIOLA FAMILY ₦45 BILLION, CLOSE JUNE 12 CHAPTER
Former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has called on President Bola Tinubu to authorise the long-delayed payment of ₦45 billion allegedly owed to the family of late MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election. Speaking at the launch of his autobiography, Being True to Myself, in Abuja on Tuesday, Lamido described the payment as a moral obligation necessary to bring final closure to the political wounds of June 12.
Lamido, also a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, recounted that the debt arose from contracts executed by Abiola’s company, International Telephone and Telecommunications, for the Ministry of Communications under General Murtala Muhammed’s regime. He alleged that the military elite had refused to pay, fearing that if Abiola became president, he would recover the funds and destabilise national finances.
“He was doubly punished—first denied the presidency, then denied what is owed to him,” Lamido said. “Let President Tinubu do the right thing. Pay the debt and close this painful chapter in our history.”
He directed his appeal to the Minister of Information, Muhammad Idris Malagi, who represented the president at the event. The comments have reignited debate over June 12, a date now officially recognised as Democracy Day in Nigeria, and over Tinubu’s legacy as a prominent member of the pro-democracy movement that opposed the annulment of the 1993 elections.
