The Presidency has dismissed reports that President Bola Tinubu has awarded national honours to human rights activist Aisha Yesufu and 35 others as “fake news”.
Yesufu, who has been a well-known critic of the Tinubu government, is known especially for her strategic role during the 2020 End SARS national protest.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, dismissed the reports in a statement on Friday.
“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 said in a Facebook post.
He further clarified that “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 announced 66 awardees during his Democracy Day address, including posthumous awards for notable figures such as Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and Kudirat Abiola.
A circulating document listing 102 names had sparked heated debates among supporters of the Tinubu administration.
