By Iffy.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Award-winning Nigerian author, has declined the national honour offered to her by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Omawunmi Ogbe, the writer’s communication manager, confirmed the development in a statement to the press saying;
“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.”
Recall this is not the first time an honouree will reject a national honour from a Nigerian president, and may likely not be the last.
Late Prof. Chinua Achebe, the world-acclaimed Nigerian literary giant and author of Things Fall Apart, also rejected the national honours award in 2004 and 2011 which had Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan as president respectively.
The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, a foremost human rights activist and lawyer, rejected the Office of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) conferred on him in 2008 by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration.
