The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mohamed Buba Marwa, has revealed how he defied military directives to rig out Ahmed Tinubu as candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 1999 Lagos governorship election.
Brig. Gen. Marwa (rtd) was then the military governor of Lagos State.
Marwa explained that the military establishment at the time was uneasy about Tinubu’s rising popularity and his strong pro-democracy stance.
Serving as the military governor of Lagos then, Marwa said he refused to tamper with the electoral process because the Yoruba people had shown him overwhelming support and goodwill, even though they were largely opposed to the federal military government.
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According to a statement issued by the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Marwa made the disclosure on Saturday at the public presentation of “Buni Boy,” a book authored by the late legal icon Niyi Ayoola-Daniels, in Abuja.
The book highlights themes of justice, duty, and national unity—principles Marwa said have guided his personal and professional journey.
He noted that the encouragement he received from Lagos residents inspired him to oversee a credible election that ushered in his successor.
“While the Head of State at the time, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, did not interfere with the conduct of the election, the military hierarchy attempted to influence the result. They were worried about the growing popularity and strong campaign of Senator Bola Tinubu, who was a prominent NADECO pro-democracy advocate against military rule. I was instructed to stop him from becoming governor. But I chose instead to supervise a free and fair election, which produced the most popular candidate as the governor of Lagos State. The rest, as they say, is history,” Marwa said.
He added that the episode strengthened his conviction that Nigeria’s diversity and democratic values must always be protected.
