The Presidency on Friday refuted viral claims that President Bola Tinubu conferred a national honour on prominent activist Aisha Yesufu, describing the list making the rounds as entirely fabricated.
The clarification comes after an unverified document surfaced online, listing 102 individuals purported to have been awarded national honours. The list, widely shared on social media and credited to Leadership newspaper, included Yesufu, a vocal critic of the Tinubu administration and a notable figure during the 2020 End SARS protests.
Reacting to the controversy, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, dismissed the publication in a Facebook post.
“The story on a viral list of national honours featuring the name of Aisha Yesufu and others credited to the Leadership newspaper is fake news. It should be ignored,” Ajayi wrote.
He went on to add: “The Presidency has not issued fresh names for national honour different from the ones in President Tinubu’s address to the joint sitting of the National Assembly yesterday.”
President Tinubu had on Thursday, June 13, announced a list of 66 recipients during a special session of the National Assembly to mark Democracy Day. The verified names included both living and posthumous honorees, with notable figures such as the late Chief of Staff Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, former electoral chief Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, and Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late MKO Abiola and a martyr of the June 12 struggle.
The appearance of an inflated and unofficial list online has sparked debates across political circles and civil society, particularly due to Yesufu’s inclusion.
Aisha Yesufu has remained a high-profile activist in Nigeria’s socio-political landscape and is no stranger to controversy. Her outspoken stance on governance and civic issues often places her at odds with those in power.
As of press time, no new list of awardees has been released by the Presidency beyond those officially announced during the Democracy Day address.
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