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Tinubu supported annulment of June 12 – Lamido *He must go in 2027
President Bola Tinubu, supported Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s annulment of June 12 election Sule Lamido, Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), under which the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola won the historic election in 1993, has revealed.
Lamido, also former Governor of Jigawa State, and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in an exclusive interview with ARISE NEWS television network, said Tinubu, then a Senator under IBB’s transition programme only joined in demanding for the validation of the mandate, when he was thrown out from the Senate with his colleagues.
Lamido, currently one of the arrowheads pushing for the removal of the President in 2027, vowed that he was ready to support any political arrangement or coalition seeking to end the APC-led government he accused of incompetence, divisiveness, and betraying the spirit of democracy from office.
“I am part of any arrangement, no matter by whatever nomenclature or name, to remove the current government of incompetency, of insecurity, of dividing Nigerian family between North and South, out of power. I’ll go into any arrangement for that purpose.
“Today in Nigeria, we’ve got a government which is dividing Nigerians along north and south, dividing Nigerians along ethnicity lines, and also using institutions of the state in manipulating and controlling and coercing the opposition.
“So, to me, any arrangement, I’ll be part of any arrangement of any chemistry, any configuration, whatever you may call it, if it’s going to move this government out of power, because the government for the first time in Nigeria is now a government not for Nigerians, but then for the political party. The entire government today in Nigeria is not for Nigeria, it’s for the political party.”
Dismissing Tinubu’s pro-democracy claim Lamido, argued that the true fighters for June 12 were those who remained in the country to confront the military and not people like Tinubu who ran away into foreign countries.
Re-affirming that the President was aligned with Babangida all true the annulment of Abiola’s election, he said: “He was part of those people who were supporting Babangida’s annulment of June 12. His own mother, Hajiya Mogaji from Lagos, was organising Lagos working women to come to Abuja to pledge support for Babangida. I’m saying this because it’s simply history. I mean no harm. I don’t mean to embarrass him. But you see, he was actively handing gloves to Babangida.
“When Tinubu today, after being a general president, decided to rewrite history, well, trying to maybe deconstruct history and then rewrite it, then it is very, very amusing because he was part of the Babangida support of June 12th. He was part of it. Now, it was only when Abacha took over government that Tinubu then became our so-called activist of June 12th.
“Tinubu is not about Yoruba. Tinubu is about him and him alone, his own interest. And whoever is going to play his own role, who is going to do his own bidding, he’ll bring him. I’ve been saying so. It’s not about Yoruba. All the Yoruba in APC today, in government, are his own boys who are going to do his own bidding, no more, no less. He’s willing to go and bring somebody from the south-south, southeast, or even from the north, so long as they are going to do Tinubu. So Tinubu is behaving like the emperor he is.”
Restating his support for unseating APC, Lamido warned that such a coalition must be issue-based, not motivated by vengeance or personal ambition like the 2014 APC alliance, adding: “The coalition I’m talking about is not similar to what we had in 2014 — a coalition of anger, revenge, hatred, and nothing but ambition. It should be based on national unity, security, economy, and restoring Nigeria’s honour.”
“The suspect offered ₦500 million to the SPU commander in an attempt to make the team stand down and allow him to contact his associates to move the consignment elsewhere. The offer was rejected immediately and properly documented for further investigation.”
These were the exact words of Olohundare Jimoh Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), with which he detailed how operatives of the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) scoffed at a N500million bribe to turn their eyes off the importation of a huge consignment of drugs imported into the country.
This was part of the details of a major breakthrough by the operatives after bursting a major drug trafficking syndicate in Lagos, which led to the seizure of suspected illicit drugs estimated at ₦7.8 billion and arresting several suspects, including the alleged kingpin.
In the operation, reportedly carried out by officers of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) in collaboration with divisional police detectives, the operatives, were said to have stormed a house in Mende, Maryland area of Lagos, following months of surveillance and intelligence gathering coordinated by the Zone 2 Headquarters.
The recovered drugs consisted of hundreds of bags of suspected Canadian Loud, allegedly stored in the residence of the prime suspect, Jimoh, said disclosing that the suspect was apprehended on May 19 after weeks of strategic monitoring by operatives.
Offering further details, he said the operation was executed with technical support and guidance from the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, alongside coordinated efforts between the SPU and divisional police teams.
Jimoh revealed that during the operation, the suspect allegedly attempted to bribe the SPU commander with ₦500 million to compromise the mission and allow the movement of the drug consignment.
The AIG described the development as a reflection of the renewed professionalism and operational discipline being entrenched in the Force under the current policing strategy.
He noted that the success of the operation underscored the importance of deploying specialized police units alongside conventional divisional teams in tackling organized crime.
According to him, the operation demonstrated the effectiveness of rapid containment strategies, intelligence-led policing, and professional conduct among the operatives involved in the raid.
“Rapid containment was achieved as the Special Protection Unit worked with divisional teams to secure the perimeter and prevent escape or interference with evidence.
“The operation was intelligence-driven, following months of surveillance and technical monitoring before the raid was carried out.
“The immediate rejection and documentation of the bribe attempt also reflect the standard expected from redeployed personnel at the divisional level,” Jimoh added.
Reacting to the development, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, commended the operatives for their professionalism, saying the success of the operation validated the ongoing redeployment of personnel to divisions and units across Lagos and Ogun states.
The IGP noted: “Policing must be close to the people, and our specialized units must work side by side with divisional teams on the ground.
“The professionalism shown by the SPU commander in rejecting a ₦500 million bribe and following due procedure is the standard we expect. It shows that when you put your best foot forward at the grassroots, you get results and restore public trust.”
Disu further assured that the Force leadership would continue to reward integrity while holding officers accountable to the highest ethical standards.
Police authorities said exhibits recovered during the operation have been properly documented and will be tendered in court. The suspects are currently in custody while investigations continue to track down other members of the drug trafficking network.
Slavery is a wound on the memory of the Universal Church, Pope Leo XIV, said on Monday, as he issued a fresh apology over the participation of the the Catholic Church in the centuries-long delay in condemning slavery.
The pontiff stressed the position of the church after his predecessors had offered similar apologies, said: “For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”
Writing in a major text that warned about “new forms of slavery” behind the digital economy, the joined John Paul II, who denounced slave trade in 1992 before issuing a sweeping request for forgiveness for historical injustices in 2000 and Pope Francis who also repeatedly denounced contemporary forms of slavery.
In his own vein, Pope Leo, pointed out that the Church owned slaves until the Middle Ages and it also advised European sovereigns on how to justify the enslavement of “infidels.”
He stressed in “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), a document focused primarily on the rise of artificial intelligence, that it was only in the 19th century that “a formal, absolute and universal condemnation of slavery was clearly articulated.”
Hear him: “It is true that past events cannot be judged anachronistically, as though the moral criteria that matured over time had always been available. Yet neither can we deny or diminish the delay with which both society and the Church came to denounce the scourge of slavery. This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached.”
Qowiy Oloyede, a resident of Oriya Sokoto road, Atan Ota, is currently telling operatives of the Ogun State Colice command, the reasons that pushed him into making a video suggesting that a part of the state was under attack of terrorists, knowing same to be fake.
Oloyede, reports say, dragged to the police on May 23 by one Ayinla Sodiq, who accused him of creating and sharing a misleading TikTok video falsely claiming that bandits had invaded the Atan Ota community..
Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency publication, which broke the news, said on immediately being questioning by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Oloyed, allegedly confessed to fabricating the video to gain followers on social media.
Apart from admitting that that he created the fake bandit attack content to gain followers and trend online, said in a video currently on social media the herder featured in the clip was a cattle rearer who usually grazed cows behind his shop and had initially refused to participate before eventually agreeing.
Oloyede, who also claimed he could neither read nor write, adding that his apprentice wrote the caption accompanying the video posted online, maintained that he had only produced and posted two similar videos, one on Monday and another on Wednesday.
The command, said to have recovered photographs and video evidence linked to the fake publication during preliminary investigation, added that the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Abeokuta, for further investigation, warning residents against spreading false information capable of causing panic and public disorder, and for the public to verify information before sharing content on social media.
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