…Joins growing list of Nigerians turning down national recognitions
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–Pix(above, R-L): PMB and Chimamanda
Award-winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has rejected the national honour conferred on her by President Muhammadu Buhari, increasing the list of Nigerians who had turned down such national recognitions.
Recall that this is not the first time an honouree will be rejecting a national honour from a Nigerian president.
Chief Gani Fawehinmi, a foremost human rights activist and lawyer, rejected the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) conferred on him in 2008 by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration.
Prof. Chinua Achebe, the world-acclaimed Nigerian literary giant and author of Things Fall Apart, also rejected the national honour awards in 2004 and 2011 by Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, respectively.
Real reason Chimamanda rejected the award, which she did in private, it was gathered, was her desire not to pooh-pooh the process, thus generating undue publicity.
Making this public, Wednesday, the writer’s communication manager, Omawunmi Ogbe, said: “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.
“Well, the truth is that 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.
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–Tags: Chimamanda Adichie, PMB, National Merit Awards