Buba Marwa reveals military attempted to stop Tinubu in 1999 governorship elections

By Kunle Sanni –

The chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Buba Marwa, has revealed that senior military figures attempted to block President Bola Tinubu from emerging as governor of Lagos State during the 1999 elections.

Marwa, who served as the military administrator of Lagos from 1996 to 1999, made the disclosure on Saturday in Abuja at the public presentation of Buni Boy, a book written by the late Niyi Ayoola-Daniels.

Speaking at the event, he said some members of the military hierarchy opposed Tinubu’s candidacy due to his role in the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which campaigned fiercely against military rule following the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

According to Marwa, despite the opposition from top military officers, residents of Lagos State supported his administration and welcomed his leadership even though they disagreed with military governance. This public confidence, he said, strengthened his resolve to conduct transparent elections.

“Even though the head of state then, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, did not interfere in my conduct of the governorship election, the military hierarchy did,” Marwa said.

“After seeing the then-Senator Bola Tinubu’s strong campaign and popularity, the military hierarchy instructed me to prevent him from becoming governor because of his pro-democracy activism in NADECO. But I chose to conduct a free and fair election that produced the most popular candidate. The rest today is history.”

Marwa said his three decades in the military shaped his firm belief in a united Nigeria, noting that the army’s culture encouraged bonds that transcended ethnic and regional lines.

“In the army, intermarriage and close fellowship pushed us to look past ethnic lines and stand together as one,” he said. “Wherever I stand in this country — among the Ogoni, the Bachama, the Igbo, or the Idoma — I am at home.”