National Awards: How Akume worked against some Benue nominees

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday conferred National Honours Awards on 447 recipients comprising Nigerians and non-Nigerians labelled “friends of Nigeria”.

In Benue State, the list has been faulted by some commentators because it contained some characters who should not be there when eminently qualified Benue sons and daughters were left out, obviously for political reasons. Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume has come under fire for working against the nomination of some prominent persons from the state who were already on the list.

While many of the honorees from Benue State were men of proven achievements and high repute, inside sources have it that Akume whose office received the list of nominees surreptitiously removed the names of those he sees as his political opponents and inserted the name of one Simon Shango and a few other cronies of his before submitting the list to the President.

What a shame! How can Akume convince anyone that Shango deserved a national award when other illustrious sons of Benue State have done a lot for this country? What are Shango’s achievements to merit national honour?

It is sad that those who merited the national honour from Benue State were already on the list but Akume chose to work against some of the names, to settle a political score.

He needs to know that removing the names of Benue people who deserved national honour has not taken away anything from them. His vindictive and shameful action has rather made them stand taller in the eyes of the people. The achievements of those personalities speak for them.

By Ternenge Azua