Following Chinua Achebe’s footsteps, prolific Nigerian international author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, had rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s offer to confer her with national honours which took place last Tuesday. Albeit, the author did it quietly like Joseph in the bible when he decided to put Mary his wife away without making her a public example.
This was revealed by Omawumi Ogbe, a member of Chimamanda’s communications team. According to Omawunmi, Chimamanda did not accept the award and, as such, did not attend the ceremony. “She (Chimamanda) however, did not want to create undue publicity around it, so her non-acceptance was conveyed privately.”
President Buhari had offered the national honours to Chimamanda, alongside other female recepients like Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, whom he had described as “doing our country proud on the international scene…
“Our dear sisters are a source of inspiration to our young women that through the dint of hard work and dedication, they can achieve greatness,” President Buhari said.
It would be recalled that Prof. Chinua Achebe had on two occasions, similarly rejected the national honours awards in 2004 and 2011, citing his dissatisfaction with the way things were being handled by the administrations of presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan respectively.
The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, renowned human rights activist and lawyer, had also rejected the national honour conferred on him in 2008 by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration.