Sule Lamido; The Soldier of Fortune’s Horse.

By Olusegun R. Babalola

My attention has been brought recently to the comments made by the former Jigawa State Governor, on Arise Television (17, June 2025) and the Guardian newspaper (25, June 2025), where he unfairly de-marketed audaciously made false comments on Afenifere, one of the most powerful welfarist groups in Africa and one of the greatest voices against bad governance in the world.

On President Bola Tinubu, he made two things clear, which Afenifere have consistently emphasized, based on the principle of social democracy and welfarism, since Tinubu’s presidency.

According to him, Tinubu cashed in on the June 12 pro-democracy movement during the annulment crisis, acted more as a “soldier of fortune” than a genuine advocate for the people’s mandate.” Secondly, he lamented that Nigeria is currently plagued by economic hardship, insecurity, and declining public morale, and he also warned that politics has taken precedence over governance halfway into Tinubu’s term.

Particularly on Afenifere, Lamido surprisingly stated that “Afenifere believed that for any Yoruba to rise to the national level, it must be through them. I think that is also Tinubu’s crime—for making it to the presidency outside Afenifere.” Secondly, he noted that Afenifere “hopped into the arena after June 12 to use the victory, instead of the victor, to ride on the emotions of the Yorubas and regain political relevance after their siddon-look posture.”

Lamido is looking at the surface as all sophists do, and not on both the surface and below the surface, as morally committed thinkers (political scientists and philosophers) do.

Firstly, Afenifere is guided by the principle of justice, fairness, social democracy and welfarism. It’s not that “Afenifere believed that for any Yoruba to rise to the national level, it must be through them” but that Afenifere believes that the principle of governance everywhere should be based on justice, fairness, social democracy and welfarism, and life abundant for all. This has been the unrivaled principle since Action Group days.

This has always been Afenifere’s measure of all politicians. If Tinubu switches from his neo-liberal policies to welfarist policies, and also adopts Afenifere’s ideas of economic and political restructuring, Afenifere would commend him. It’s no personal but a matter of principled ideology, which may be hard for Lamido to understand.

Secondly, Afenifere did not join and lead the pro-democracy movement “to ride on the emotions of the Yorubas and regain political relevance after their siddon-look posture,” but again based on the same principle of justice, fairness, social democracy and welfarism to seek for fairness and justice. If it was someone else from another region that was treated unfairly, Afenifere would have stood up for him.

Thirdly, Lamido was wrong on Afenifere’s involvements in the June 12 struggle. Afenifere supported Abiola and was active in the formation of SDP via PSP which fused with Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s PDM. Before June 12, both Afenifere and Abiola made it known to all that Abiola made up with Obafemi Awolowo (Afenifere leader) before the latter died. This was the case even though Afenifere was highly sceptical of the manipulations of Ibrahim Babangida’s transition program and was more interested in the “National Question.” Olusegun Obasanjo too, was sceptical about it and he wrote one his most advanced political treatises called Constitution for National Integration and Development on the same transition program. It wasn’t only Afenifere that was sceptical.

It was also such scepticism that led to Bola Ige’s “siddon look” cliche. And it was also the concern for the “National Question” that made Afenifere settle for Abiola and not Bashir Othman Tofa of the NRC. And hasn’t the subsequent events of that transition program justified Afenifere’s scepticism?

Though Lamido claimed that he is not playing regional politics; that he is concerned with the “truth” especially for younger generation, for what he called “national rebirth;” and that his comments are not part of a North-West conspiracy against the current administration; Lamido is invariably assisting the same “soldier of fortune” to succeed whilst destroying genuine basis for an enduring trans-regional opposition. As such, he is guilty of the same critique that he placed on President Tinubu – that “politics has taken precedence over governance.”

Interestingly, Lamido has done this before. He was one of the many who abandoned the June 12 struggle and signed up with Sani Abacha’s grip to power towards silencing oppositional groups. Abacha made him the Chairman of Nigeria Agricultural and Cooperative Bank in 1994, and after being inducted to Abacha’s patronage system (apologies to Prof. Richard Joseph), he thereafter told the whole world that he didn’t join politics to serve Abiola.

That is the truth necessary for our national rebirth. Who is more honorable, the unrepentant prebendalist who dumped a cheated winner he once supported or a cautious skeptic who fought for justice and fairness?

Lamido also noted that “It’s left for Nigerians to evaluate what is happening under President Tinubu’s watch to determine his democratic credentials.” In my view, my evaluation is that Tinubu’s administration has not only perfected the craft of dividing oppositional forces into factions as he did to Labour Party and other vital oppositional organizations for perpetual rule, but has also perfected dividing the oppositional minds, as seen in Lamido’s comments.

And this is really very disconcerting and telling. There would be no accountability from Tinubu’s administration nor would the opposition be able to wrestle power from him or even win him, as long as oppositional minds and organizations are divided. National rebirth is impossible with divided minds and organizations, and without a clear sense of reasoned principles to end these artificial divisions.

Invariably, if and only if Lamido is truly concerned about “national rebirth,” one could say he is shooting himself in the feet. Sad. He has become, once again, the horse for the “soldier of fortune.”

Olusegun Babalola is a member of Afenifere and was the Osun State Coordinator for LP Presidential Campaign Council. He is General Secretary of LP in Osun State has a blog – obalufonics.com