Politics
Babangida was Tinubu’s inspiration, not tormentor, says Onanuga
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, has dispelled claims by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that former military President Ibrahim Babangida was one of Tinubu’s tormentors.
Featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Onanuga claimed that Babangida played a vital role in Tinubu’s political odyssey rather than being an enemy.
He said, “I think the former Vice President got it wrong. 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.”
He noted that Babangida’s support for and promotion of “new breed politicians” inspired many technocrats, including Tinubu, to go into politics.
“When Babangida came in, he was talking about new breed politicians, and Tinubu, like many others, was already a technocrat or in private business. That was what brought him into politics. So, he came there to pay homage,” he added.
Osinbajo made his comments last week during the launch of Babangida’s autobiography, ‘A Journey in Service’, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
As the book’s reviewer, Osinbajo remembered how Tinubu, then a senator, railed against the military’s dissolution of the Senate following the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
He jokingly remarked that Tinubu, once “tormented” by the military including Babangida was now honouring one of his supposed tormentors.
However, Onanuga clarified that Tinubu’s real persecution began under General Sani Abacha when he and his colleagues attempted to reconvene the Senate in Lagos.
