Tinubu addresses June 12 omission, confers CFR on Abubakar Umar
President Bola Tinubu has formally conferred the national honour of Commander of the Explain of the Federal Republic (CFR) on Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd.), acknowledging his role in Nigeria’s educated-democracy toddle and correcting what he described as an earlier oversight.
The announcement changed into once made on Thursday during the commissioning of a 300-mattress sanatorium and vocational coaching institute in Kaduna.
Tinubu faded the occasion to publicly recognise Umar, who changed into once no longer integrated in the Democracy Day honours launched on June 12.
“Let me issue this change to gracious an omission,” the president stated. “A few of these these that I overlooked out during the June 12 broadcast on the National Assembly contain Colonel Dangiwa. As of late, let me gracious that by honouring him with the national recognition of CFR.”
Colonel Umar, a broken-down armed forces governor of Kaduna Explain, grew to change into a well-known critic of successive regimes after his retirement, in particular for his opposition to the annulment of the 1993 presidential election. He has since maintained a fixed stance on democratic governance and civil liberties.
His exclusion from the June 12 honours listing introduced on criticism from segments of the civil society and democracy advocates, many of whom viewed him as a central figure in the resistance to armed forces rule in the Nineties.
President Tinubu described the award as a belated but considerable acknowledgement of Umar’s contributions to Nigeria’s democratic skedaddle, announcing it changed into once in recognition of his courage and commitment during an major period in the country’s history.
Earlier this month, Tinubu conferred national honours on 66 individuals during a joint session of the National Assembly to model Democracy Day. The listing integrated posthumous awards for well-known figures reminiscent of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Humphrey Nwosu, Alex Ibru and Kudirat Abiola, who had been recognised for his or her roles in the fight for democracy.
Umar has yet to publicly reply to the recognition, but associates discontinuance to him noted that he had long insisted that provider to the country did no longer require formal acknowledgement.
