President Bola Tinubu once took his mother, the late Abibatu Mogaji, to beg former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, to rescind the decision to annul the June 12, 1993, election won by the late MKO Abiola.

This was contained in the book Soldier of Fortune, by Max Siolun, an excerpt that surfaced after former governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido, attempted to rubbish Tinubu's contribution in the fight against the annulment.

According to the book, Tinubu's mother removed her headtie and begged Babangida to change his mind and validate Abiola's victory.

The book read, "Amidst the chaos, Abiola turned to the judiciary to try to validate his election victory. Although he was initially cynical about the prospect of Abiola as president, a young senator representing the Lagos West district had become one of Abiola's key allies. That senator was Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He became so close to Abiola, and was so aggrieved by the annulment, that earlier in 1993 he took his elderly mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, with him to a meeting in Abuja with Babangida to appeal for the annulment to be rescinded.

"His mother was the former president-general of the Association of Nigerian Market Women and Men, and had been active in mobilising strikes by traders. Although she was a Muslim, she removed her headscarf in Babangida's presence to plead with him to validate Abiola's election victory. Newspapers published an iconic photo of the grey-haired septuagenarian grandmother pleading with the younger president on Abiola's behalf. Although he and his mother's emotional appeals failed to persuade the military, Tinubu was undeterred. He turned to another branch of the state: the judiciary. Tinubu admitted that he 'engineered and proposed' a court case against the ING.

"He conscripted Professor Alfred Kasunmu to find a legal technicality with which to pick the ING apart. Kasunmu was a senior advocate of Nigeria, a highly esteemed former professor of law at the University of Lagos, and the former attorney-general of Lagos State. After digging through the legislation that created the ING, Kasunmu filed a..."

The excerpt was confirmed by presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, who said, "Here you have it ! The true history of what happened. Not the hogwash being bandied around."

ASA