{"id":94193,"date":"2025-06-23T10:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T10:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=94193"},"modified":"2025-06-23T10:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T10:54:07","slug":"ose-anenih-to-presidency-you-lied-about-my-father-and-you-did-so-rudely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=94193","title":{"rendered":"Ose Anenih to Presidency: You lied about my father, and you did so rudely"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Ose Anenih.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like the proverbial calabash that refuses to sink, the controversy surrounding the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election continues to resurface. Now, Ose Anenih, son of the late Chief Tony Anenih, has weighed in\u2014firmly rejecting what he describes as a false account of his father\u2019s role, as presented by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Information and Strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), Ose Anenih said:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYour account of my father\u2019s involvement in June 12 is, to put it politely, untrue. It is disappointing that you chose to use uncouth language to describe Chief Tony Anenih\u2014and in an official communication from the Presidency, no less.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will rise above the emotional baiting that this conversation has clearly sparked and speak only to the truth. I will also assume your mischaracterisation of historical events stems from ignorance, not malice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ose Anenih recalled that his father had warned Chief MKO Abiola about the dangers of aligning too closely with General Sani Abacha\u2014advice Abiola disregarded at great cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the annulment of the June 12 election by Gen. Babangida, Chief Abiola initially fled the country. Upon his return, one of his first stops was my father\u2019s residence in Benin City. At that time, my father was National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy father confronted Abiola directly, accusing him of abandoning the party and its members who risked their lives defending his mandate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anenih also referenced how his father acknowledged Bola Tinubu’s stance against the delayed announcement of the June 12 results:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not aware of any animosity between my father and President Tinubu. In fact, my father acknowledged that Tinubu spoke out against the delay in announcing the results of the June 12 election\u2014one of the few mentions Tinubu received in his 260-page memoir.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, I find it curious that your principal\u2019s early visit to Abacha following a coup is now being spun as an act of valor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He challenged Onanuga\u2019s version of events, noting that several principal actors in that period\u2014IBB, Abdulsalami, Oyegun, Ikimi, David Mark, Ayu, Dele Momodu, and MKO\u2019s son Kola Abiola\u2014are still alive and capable of providing their own accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, my father documented his version of these events before his passing. I would be happy to send you a copy of his memoir, <\/span>My Life and Nigerian Politics<\/i><\/span>, to help you avoid such ahistorical missteps in the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ose expressed dismay at having to publicly defend his late father against what he termed \u201ca lie issued in the name of the President.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that I must respond to such blatant misinformation\u2014and doubly unfortunate that it came from the Presidency itself. I had hoped this kind of toxic revisionism had ended with the previous occupant of your office.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Background: A Renewed Political Rift Over June 12<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This latest dispute follows comments by former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, who recently claimed that President Tinubu played a role in the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election\u2014regarded by many as Nigeria\u2019s freest and fairest, and won by Chief MKO Abiola.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement on Sunday, presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga rebutted Lamido\u2019s claims, accusing him of distorting history. He specifically denied the allegation that Tinubu\u2019s mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, mobilized market women in support of the annulment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Onanuga asserted that both Lamido\u2014then SDP National Secretary\u2014and Tony Anenih, the party chairman, capitulated to military rule and betrayed the people\u2019s mandate.<\/span><\/p>\n

He defended Tinubu\u2019s record, citing his Senate speech on August 19, 1993, in which Tinubu reportedly denounced the annulment as a coup and urged resistance. Onanuga also highlighted Tinubu\u2019s arrest during efforts to reconvene the dissolved Senate and his later exile and financial support to NADECO\u2019s pro-democracy movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe facts remain clear: President Tinubu was\u2014and remains\u2014a steadfast advocate for democracy, unlike Lamido and others who capitulated under military pressure,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lamido, in response, continued to question Tinubu\u2019s democratic legacy, stating:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTinubu became relevant only after Abacha took over. Before then, where were all these NADECO heroes?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He even accused Tinubu\u2019s mother of supporting Babangida and dismissed Tinubu\u2019s exile as self-preserving, not self-sacrificing. Lamido concluded by declaring his readiness to join any political coalition aimed at removing Tinubu from power in 2027.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like the proverbial calabash that refuses to sink, the controversy surrounding the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election continues to resurface. Now, Ose Anenih, son of the late Chief Tony Anenih, has weighed in\u2014firmly rejecting what he describes as a false account of his father\u2019s role, as presented by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":94194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[7174,303,7175],"class_list":["post-94193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics","tag-ose","tag-presidency","tag-rude"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}