Civil rights groups and opposition parties in the country have described the 2012 national honours list released on Sunday by the Presidency as “an attestation to the decadence and show of shame of the Jonathan regime.” The groups queried that although some of
those nominated for this year’s national
honours were honest and credible Nigerians,
the committee in charge of the nomination
would have excluded people that were being
probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for fuel subsidy fraud and other
related offences. The Organised labour had in a related
development urged President Goodluck
Jonathan to honour persons like the Chief
MKO Abiola; his late wife, Kudirat; ace lawyer
and foremost human rights crusader, Chief
Gani Fawehinmi; labour activist, the late Chima Ubani; and Afrobeats legend, Fela Anikulapo-
Kuti among others. Trade Union Congress and the Nigerian
Labour Congress condemned the way awards
are given in Nigeria, maintaining that the
national honours were not meant for only
affluent Nigerians. President of the TUC, Peter Esele said, “Well,
there are people on the list who are of
impeccable character; these are some of the
Nigerians who have made serious
contributions to national development. “I mean people of integrity like the former
Supreme Court Justice, Kayode Esho, whose
works speak for him and others like him. “However, if there are people being
investigated by the EFCC for financial crimes, I
think, the right thing to do is not to nominate
them for such national award. “Those investigated by the EFCC should not be
given awards until they are cleared by the
commission. The way we churn out these
awards every year, it will reduce the
importance attached to them. Honestly, I think
they are becoming too many; this is not the situation in the United States where the
President nominates about nine people and
they are taken very seriously. “You know that Nigerians are rated by the
amount of money they have and not by the
level of service rendered.” Also condemning the honours list, the Acting
General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC), Chris Uyot said “Our view
generally is that the ruling class are only
taking care of themselves in terms of giving
awards to their colleagues, their partners, money bags and the rest of them, “A country that is so corrupt, where people
are stealing billions of Naira and awards are
giving to people who are maintaining the
status quo of corruption.” He said: “The President should not depend on
recommendations from party chieftains and
friends from the business society. He should
use his discretion to ensure that the
searchlight is beamed on other segments of
the society rather politicians and technocrats. Great Ubani, Gani Fawehinmi,
MKO, Kudirat, Fela, and others did a lot for
Nigeria.” Also, leading opposition parties, the Congress
for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) also condemned the
honour’s list. The CPC through its National Publicity
Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin, said that national
honours had been bastardised. He said the list was “an attestation to the
decadence and show of shame of the
Jonathan regime.” The ACN also condemned the award list,
stating that credible people had been pushed
aside in the name of policking. The ACN, in a statement by its state publicity
secretary, Joe Igbokwe, said that “a careful
perusal of the latest names released for
national honours shows that it is a pot-pouri
of businessmen that have no scruples, friends
and associates of those in government, discredited contractors and acolytes of
those in power, especially at the federal level
and mainly PDP party members.” President of the Campaign for Democracy, Dr.
Joe Okei-Odumakin, said, “The bottom line is
that our national honour has become
dishonourable. Honest Nigerians who have the
misfortune of carrying the devalued honours
should throw their plaques in the waste bin.”
www.channelstv.com/home/2012/09/11/labour-acn-others-call-2012-national-honours-list-a-show-of-shame/

Let them tell us the names of those they are disapproving now. Haba