₦airaland Forum

The Presidency yesterday defended its nomination of business mogul and Chairman of Globacom, Dr Mike Adenuga Jnr. for the award of Grand Commander of the Niger [GCON]. Adenuga and other awardees will be decorated next Monday in Abuja. He is the second eminent person to bag the award after another business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group.

He got the honour last year. But reactions have been trailing the inclusion of Dr Adenuga on the list of awardees, against the backdrop of the alleged involvement of his oil company, Conoil Oil, in the fuel subsidy scam.

But reacting to the comments over Adenuga’s nomination, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, said that the Federal Government was not aware that Consolidated Oil was indicted, just as he admonished Nigerians to learn to separate an individual from his company.

“We don’t know that Consolidated Oil was indicted. We must be able to separate a person in his personal capacity from what his company does. “The man is one of the biggest employers of labour in the country. If he had a problem with one arm of his companies, what about others? We all know Globacom is doing well and we are all proud of it… but I am sure that any company that had run foul of the law will be