The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated that it is incorrect for Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to label former military President Ibrahim Babangida as Tinubu’s tormentor.
During the public presentation of Babangida’s autobiography, “A Journey in Service”, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja last week, Osinbajo who was the book reviewer, recalled how Tinubu, then a senator, resisted the dissolution of the senate by the military government, following the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
He jocularly said that Tinubu who was then tormented by the military including Babangida for attempting to reconstitute the dissolved senate was at the event to honour one of his tormentors.
But speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Onanuga faulted the statement by Osinbajo, saying that Babangida was an inspiration for Tinubu charting a course in politics.
“I think the former Vice President got it wrong. I think Babangida was not really a tormentor of President Tinubu, don’t forget that President Tinubu said in his own extempore speech that he held Babangida as something, that he was the person that inspired him to get into politics.
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“When Babangida came in, he was talking about new breed politicians and so on, and Tinubu like many of them were already technocrats or in private business and so on. All of them came out to participate in politics, that was what brought him in. So, he came there to pay homage,” Onanuga said.
Onanuga stated that the torment actually began under General Sani Abacha when Tinubu, along with some colleagues, attempted to reconvene the Senate in Lagos.
The presidential adviser commended Babangida’s admission that MKO Abiola won the 1993 presidential election but said his admission came late.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
