Dr Lilian Ene Ogbole, the Convener of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Political Parties for Good Governance (PPGG) has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to strip former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the national honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).
She made the appeal on Thursday while addressing newsmen in Abuja.
Ogbole said the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be stripped of national honour over his baseless allegation of certificate forgery levelled against President Tinubu.
She said Atiku has been unpatriotic for making unguarded and baseless allegations, adding that he has never subscribed to true democracy nor respected the rule of law.
Ogbole said stripping Atiku will serve as a deterrent to others so that Nigerians can begin to henceforth attach some regard to the office of the President, adding that national honours are meant for honourable men and women.
She said: “It keeps getting clearer that former vice president Atiku Abubakar is on a collision course with national interest and has never subscribed to true democracy nor respected the rule of law.
“These assertions were made even clearer when he revealed to the world during his over-hipped, baseless, and content-ridden world press conference, how he singlehandedly relinquished Lagos state to Asiwaju while they fraudulently took over other Southwestern states by hook and crook during the 2003 general election.
“This, no doubt, is a mockery of our collective sensibility as a people committed to the ideals of constitutional democracy.
“It truly beats our imagination how a man with a long history of electoral manipulation, habitual disrespect for constituted authority and serial election manipulator who will stop at nothing, whether moral or immoral, will shamelessly come to the public domain to accuse a true and descent democrat of attributes that are alien to him.
“It is common knowledge that most of the dirty characteristics that Atiku has falsely accused President Tinubu of are synonymous with his name and character, as confirmed by his former boss, Olusegun Obasanjo, who lacked words of expression to qualify Atiku’s lack of patriotism and decency.
“As stakeholders in the business of nation-building, we wish to use this medium to call on President Tinubu to utilise the authority conferred on him by the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended to protect the image and interest of the country by stripping Atiku Abubakar Sadiq of the national honours of 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.
“Stripping Atiku will also serve as a deterrent to others so that Nigerians can begin to henceforth attach some regard to the office of the President.”
