- Safiu Kehinde
Nigerian businessman and journalist, Dele Momodu, has claimed that he could have rejected President Bola Tinubu’s National honour if offered.
The publisher of Ovation magazine made this known in a post on his Instagram handle on Friday.
NPO Reported that Tinubu had in celebration of the June 12 Democracy Day yesterday conferred national honour on prominent individuals across the country while also awarding posthumous honour to the likes of Kudirat Abiola, Gani Fawehinmi, Ken Saro-Wiwa and other members of the Ogoni Nine.
Reacting to the development in a post on his Instagram handle, especially to those agitating over his non-inclusion in the list of awardees by the President, Momodu maintained that the government is a liberty to determine those it wishes to honour.
While maintaining that honourary awards are endless, the publisher held that his June 12 struggles was long compensated by collective sacrifices made by Nigerians as well as his accomplishments while in exile.
Momodu maintained that his non-inclusion in the list spared him from what might have been considered as arrogance and disrespect.
He hinted that he could have rejected the award as being honoured by an administration trampling on tenets of democracy would have been embarrassing for him.
The post read; “I wish to humbly disagree with all those who have reached out to me protesting or complaining that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu “deliberately” missed out my name in the JUNE 12 HONORS’ List released earlier today. I will like to make the following observations:
“It is the prerogative of every government to determine those it wishes to recognise and honor.
“Honorary awards are endless and can be given now, later or never. There are well deserving heroes whose names were clearly omitted.
“JUNE 12 1993 has been extremely kind to me by offering me the opportunities to fight for Democracy in various capacities. I was amply compensated by the collective sacrifices made by Nigerians. I returned from exile with so many goodies as ordained by almighty God, including the global brand, Ovation International, a second address & citizenship in the UK, a third address in Ghana, worldwide fame & acclaim, and so on.
“I would have been embarrassed to be recognized by a regime that’s unapologetically trampling on tenets of democracy and dangerously leading our dear beloved nation down the slope of dictatorship and full-blown tyranny.
“On the other hand, it would have been considered rude and impudent of me to reject such a National honor from a man I still consider my Big Brother and friend, despite my vehement disagreement and displeasure with him over matters of political views… I wish to sincerely thank the President for rescuing me from what might have been misconstrued as compromise, arrogance or disrespect. Massive congratulations to all the honorees.”
Momodu’s omission from the list had sparked reactions from members of the public on account of his role during the June 12, 1993 Presidential election which was infamously annulled.
Momodu who had then resigned to join the Moshood Abiola presidential campaign organization was arrested and detained at Alagbon Close in Lagos, after the annulment of the election by General Ibrahim Babangida.
He was again to be arrested in 1995 and charged with treason by the government of Sani Abacha, then a dictator.
Momodu was accused of being one of the brains behind the pirate radio station, Radio Freedom (later Radio Kudirat), after the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
He however managed to escape by masquerading as a farmer through the Seme border into Cotonou, in Benin Republic, from where he fled to Togo, Ghana and eventually to the United Kingdom where he spent three years in exile.
He had since been absolved of all accusations made by the Abacha administration, which are believed to have been orchestrated by Abacha’s anti-democratic administration Momodu opposed with his support of MKO Abiola’s campaign.