Toba Owojaiye reporting
Abuja, Nigeria
In a compelling and forthright statement, Ose Anenih, son of the late Chief Anthony (“Tony”) Anenih, has firmly defended his father’s pivotal role during Nigeria’s June 12, 1993 election crisis. He rebukes recent comments by Bayo Onanuga, Presidential Aide on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, describing them as misleading, disparaging, and unworthy of official expression.
Truth Live News gathered that Ose Anenih stressed that Onanuga’s portrayal is not only “untrue” but also betrays a resort to “uncouth language” unbecoming of someone in the service of the Presidency. Rather than yielding to “emotional baiting,” Ose asserts his resolve to remain “focused strictly on the facts.”
Following the annulment of the historic election by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, MKO Abiola fled the country but returned to Nigeria, reportedly stopping in Benin City to see Chief Anenih.
There, Tony Anenih admonished Abiola for leaving the SDP (and its supporters) stranded at a critical juncture. Abiola famously responded, “A bird does not tell his friends that the stone is coming.” However, Ose maintains that Anenih acted from a principled stance, not betrayal.
Chief Anenih cautioned Abiola against trusting Sani Abacha, warning that any alignment with him would sabotage Abiola’s quest to reclaim his mandate. Contrarily, Abiola later lent support to Abacha’s coup, thwarting the Interim National Government led by Tam David-West and others: a development that deeply concerned the SDP leadership.
Ose underlined that his father greatly valued Bola Tinubu’s early criticism of the delayed election results. Thus, Onanuga’s interpretation (that Tinubu visited Abacha in homage) is a grave misreading of history.
Ose urged all surviving key actors from that era: military heads of state, SDP/NRC officials, to join in re-establishing an accurate narrative. He offered access to Chief Anenih’s autobiography, My Life and Nigerian Politics, which provides detailed accounts and primary documents .
Concluding his rebuttal, Ose expresses profound concern over society’s fixation on “toxicity” and divisive historical battles. He emphatically suggests that national energy be directed to urgent security crises (such as recent suicide bombings in Kano and Borno) rather than rehashing past wounds.
Chief Tony Anenih, born in 1933 and a former policeman turned political strategist, served as SDP National Chairman during the June 12 saga and later as Minister of Works and Housing under President Obasanjo . His autobiography is praised as “elegantly crafted,” filled with archival records and powerful personal narratives of that turbulent era .
This exchange reaffirms the enduring sensitivity surrounding June 12. Ose Anenih insists that Chief Tony Anenih acted out of loyalty to Nigeria’s democratic ideals, not personal ambition, prompting a broader reflection on how we honour the legacies of our political forebears. He invites a sober, evidence-centered approach rooted in documented history over emotion-driven narratives.