Former Foreign Affairs Minister and frontline June 12 pro-democracy figure, Dr. Sule Lamido, has ridiculed what he described as the “audacity of political exiles and spectators” now jostling to rewrite the history of Nigeria’s democracy and hijack the glory of the June 12 struggle.
Lamido, a known stalwart of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) then and an original foot soldier of the pro-Abiola movement, said it was “shameful and tragic” that individuals who either stayed silent or fled the country during the Abacha dictatorship now parade themselves as democracy heroes.
“They fled when it mattered, hid in foreign lands, and only returned after the coast was clear — not to apologize, but to collect medals,” Lamido said in a veiled jab during a Democracy Day reflection shared on Thursday.
His remarks come amid growing criticism over the increasing number of former political exiles, “sidon-look” observers, and latecomers who have been celebrated in recent Democracy Day events as core actors in the June 12 narrative.
“There was June 11 before June 12,” Lamido stressed, referring to the groundwork laid by true SDP campaigners across the country before the 1993 presidential election. “Many of those claiming credit today were not there in the campaign trenches. Ask Babagana Kingibe — he knows.”
Lamido also criticized what he called a “sectional appropriation” of June 12 by elements of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), noting that the struggle was national in character, not tribal or partisan.
“NADECO picked up the story at the last chapter and ran off with the book,” he quipped. “They trivialized and diminished a collective national sacrifice by turning it into a regional product wrapped in EMILOKAN politics.”
Observers say Lamido’s comments reflect the frustrations of many who risked their lives during Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement, only to be sidelined or omitted from official accounts of the struggle.
One social commentator on X (formerly Twitter) summed it up bluntly:
“The June 12 movement has been franchised. Anyone with an agbada and a long memory stick can now plug in and claim they led the resistance.”
Adding to the irony, some of these newly decorated “heroes” have been spotted in media interviews quoting Nelson Mandela and brandishing old photos with MKO Abiola — photos critics say were likely taken at condolence visits, not protests.
Political historians are now warning of what they call “retroactive patriotism” — a phenomenon where opportunistic individuals rewrite their pasts for relevance in the present. One scholar noted that many such actors were neither in the streets nor in detention cells, but have suddenly emerged as custodians of the June 12 spirit.
“We cannot allow silence and cowardice to be rebranded as strategy,” Lamido warned. “Those who watched from abroad should not now wear the robes of valour.”
As the nation marks another Democracy Day, the question lingers: Will truth stand the test of political revisionism, or will history fall to the loudest voice with the flashiest agbada?