A senior official of Nigeria’s main opposition party has alleged that President Bola Tinubu was abroad during the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) historic struggle against military rule in the 1990s.
Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a chieftain of the PDP, made the claim during a live interview on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme. He was speaking on the party’s resilience and founding sacrifices.
“When we fought the military, President Bola Tinubu was one of the people drinking cognac abroad. He was not here,” Olawepo-Hashim stated.
He detailed his own activities during the period, recalling being with former military head of state General Ibrahim Babangida and the pro-democracy G-34 coalition on the day of General Sani Abacha’s death in 1998.
“I was in for Babangida. They were moving tanks. We were civilians negotiating the new Republic,” he said, adding that many future PDP founders were imprisoned at the time.
The comments invoke a critical period in Nigerian history, when a coalition of civil society, ex-military officers, and politicians resisted the annulment of the 1993 election and subsequent military dictatorships. This resistance culminated in the formation of the PDP in 1998, which went on to win the 1999 election that restored civilian rule.
Olawepo-Hashim’s remarks directly challenge the recorded political history of President Tinubu, a key figure in the pro-democracy movement who later co-founded the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and served as Lagos State governor. They highlight enduring partisan narratives about contributions to Nigeria’s democratic transition.
The statement comes amid intense political rivalry, with the PDP currently serving as the primary opposition to President Tinubu’s administration. By framing the PDP as the sole authentic vanguard of the anti-military struggle, Olawepo-Hashim’s interview seeks to reinforce the party’s historical credentials against a powerful sitting president with his own claimed legacy from the era.
The allegation will likely fuel debate over historical record and political ownership of Nigeria’s democratic journey, a narrative fiercely contested by major political actors since 1999. No response has yet been issued by the Presidency or the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) regarding the specific claim.
