Award-winning Nigerian creator, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who was lately adorned with Harvard University’s iconic W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, has damaged her silence over her non-appearance at Tuesday’s conferment of nationwide honours by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Putting the data straight, a member of Chimamanda’s communications staff, Omawumi Ogbe, informed newsmen that the creator declined the honour.
Ogbe stated in an announcement: “Following the latest conferment of nationwide awards by the President, there have been conflicting studies about one of many introduced recipients, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Some social media customers say the award-winning author rejected the award, whereas 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 stated.
While conferring the award on 450 Nigerians and foreigners, President Buhari had justified the honours, saying the awardees had distinguished themselves within the service of the nation and humanity.
“We have among the recipients today, Amb. Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who are doing our country proud on the international scene,” Buhari stated. “Our dear sisters are a source of inspiration to our young women that through the dint of hard work and dedication, they can achieve greatness.”
This isn’t the primary time an honouree will flip down a nationwide honour from a Nigerian president.
Late Prof. Chinua Achebe, the world-acclaimed Nigerian literary large and creator of Things Fall Apart, rejected the nationwide honours award in 2004 and 2011, resulting in an uproar at the moment.
Achebe stated he rejected the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) award as a result of he was dissatisfied with the dealing with of the nation’s affairs by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. In 2011, Achebe rejected the identical award from the Goodluck Jonathan administration, saying the explanations for rejecting the supply when it was first made in 2004 had not been addressed.
Also, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, foremost human rights activist and lawyer, additionally rejected the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) conferred on him in 2008 by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration.
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