Coalition asks Tinubu to strip Atiku of GCON national honour

The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations and Political Parties for Good Governance has asked President Bola Tinubu to strip Atiku Abubakar of the national honour of Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON).

The group stressed that doing so would serve as a deterrent to others about the importance of respecting the office of the president.

The convener of the coalition, Dr Lilian Ogbole, made the call while addressing a press conference on Thursday in Abuja.

She noted that if Atiku’s recent press conference can aptly be described as a face-saving gimmick to capture power from the back door by whipping up sentiments and fabricating lies, Peter Obi’s belated press conference of October 11, 2023, over the same issue was at best childish, shameful, and laughable.

Ogbole emphasised that rather than providing evidence to contradict Tinubu’s submissions to INEC, Obi laughably requested that the President help him with evidence that would invalidate the certificates and information submitted to INEC.

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The convener said it is getting clearer that the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was on a collision course with national interests and has never subscribed to true democracy nor respected the rule of law.

Ogbole opined that Atiku, the presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party in the 2003 election, was not a man Nigerians could comfortably entrust with the welfare of the country, going by his leadership antecedents.

Her words: “The fact that Alh. Atiku Abubakar serially lost his bid to become the President of Nigeria isn’t enough reason why he should deliberately drag the image of Nigeria and that of the coveted office of the Vice President, which he once occupied, in the mud. This is unacceptable to us, and we will not henceforth sit down and watch him do such a thing.

“As stakeholders in the business of nation-building, we wish to use this medium to call on His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to utilise the authority conferred on him by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) to protect the image and interest of the country by stripping Alh. Atiku Abubakar Sadiq of the national honour of Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON).

“You will agree with us that a man with Atiku’s character is not honourable and does not deserve to keep the award that is meant for honourable men and women of repute.”