Chimamanda Adichie Joins Achebe, Fawehinmi As Nigerians Who Have Turned Down National Honours, Team Confirms
- Foremost author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is the latest Nigerian to reject a national honour by the President of the nation
- The author was listed among the 450 Nigerians announced to be the recipient of the awards but she humbly turned it down
- Her team confirmed Chimamanda did not want to create undue publicity around it, hence she did not attend the ceremony, she is not the first Nigerian to pull such on a sitting President
About 450 Nigerians were on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 decorated with national honours by President Buhammadu Buhari and one of the awardees, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, failed to show up or send a representative at the ceremony/
To clear the air about the development, one of Chimamanda's communication personnel, Omawumi Ogbe, confirmed to The Guardian that the award-winning author turned down the national honour.
Source: Instagram
Ogbe, in a statement which read in part said:
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“Following the recent conferment of national awards by the President, there have been conflicting reports about one of the announced recipients, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Some social media users say the award-winning writer rejected the award, while others say she accepted it.
“The author did not accept the award and, as such, did not attend the ceremony. She, however, did not want to create undue publicity around it, so her non-acceptance was conveyed privately,” Ogbe said.
The president honoured people who are doing the country proud on the international scene and Chimamanda was one of them but she didn't want the recognition.
She is not the first Nigerian to turn down such honour as a fellow writer, late Professor Chinua Achebe, did it twice after being conferred with Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) award by Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004.
He rejected the same award in 2011 from the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Also, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, foremost human rights activist and lawyer, also rejected the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) conferred on him in 2008 by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration.
Buhari confers Teni with MON award
Popular singer Teniola Apata better known as Teni, was live at International Conference Centre in Abuja on Tuesday, October 11, where she and other prominent figures in the country were conferred national honours by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A viral video from the event showed the moment Teni, who rocked a suit, was called upon to receive her honour as she was conferred with the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) award.
Aside from Teni, other notable Nigerians in the MON category are 2Baba, Shehu Othman, and Abubakar Maikano.
Source: Legit.ng
