The Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, has said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar was one of the first Nigerians to abandon the June 12 struggle.

Keyamo said Atiku and other presidential candidates running for the 2023 presidency had nothing to do with the June 12 election.

In a series of tweets, the minister said only the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu played an important role in the June 12 struggle.

According to Keyamo: “No Presidential candidate today had anything to do with the June 12 struggle (which is the foundation of democracy we are enjoying today) except BAT & (to be honest) Sowore as a student leader, but BAT was more pivotal from exile. Atiku was one of the first to abandon June 12.”

He accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of benefitting from the June 12 struggle in 1999, after he initially opposed it.

Keyamo pointed out that Tinubu’s victory in 2023 would correct the alleged error of picking Obasanjo in 1999.

“After the June 12 struggle, ‘strangers’ emerged from nowhere and hijacked the democratic train at the center; OBJ who opposed June 12 became the greatest beneficiary of the struggle. The election of BAT in 2023, a true hero of June 12, will largely address this anomaly of 1999,” he added.