Two prominent Nigerians have joined others in carpeting the Martin Luther King Leadership award purportedly conferred on President Mumammed Buhari, describing it as “scam.”
Mr. Buhari received the award at the State House on Monday. His media aides and supporters started circulating messages to emphasise the significance of the award and the connection that those who gave it to the president had with Martin Luther King, Jr, a foremost American civil rights campaigner who was assassinated in 1968.
Isaac Newton-Farris, one of the organisers of the award, was later quoted in the media as saying “Mr. Buhari is a foremost African leader who should be re-elected in 2019”.
But in tar brushing the award, Femi Fani-Kayode, a one-time Minister of Aviation in the country observed “First came the Dapchi scam.Then came the Martin Luther King award scam.
Fani-Kayode in his Twitter said “And now comes the bus terminal scam in which Lagos,the largest city in Africa,is under lock-down and all roads blocked simply because Pres. Muhammadu Buhari is coming to open a BUS TERMINAL! God save Nigeria.”
In his Twitter too, Reno Omokri, a one-time Speicla Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan wrote ”This one that the Martin Luther @TheKingCenter award is fake, I hope tomorrow we will not hear that the bus stop he went to commission in Lagos is also fake. You never can tell with this government. Their love for fakery borders on obsession.
“When you use DSS, NIA and DIA to harass political opponents instead of facing their core duties, you get scammed by a fake Martin Luther @TheKingCenter Award. If these agencies were not busy doing other duties, they ought to have alerted the President that these people were fake!”
Omokri noted “And SARS is harassing yahoo boys, when all along the main yahoo man is at @AsoRock faking awards, faking speeches, faking projects and faking change. In fact this Martin Luther King Junior Award scandal is the tip of the iceberg. Did he not promise to equalize Naira with Dollar?”
Some critics of the president demanded a retraction from Mr. Newton-Farris, saying he should not be making partisan political statement.
They also directed requests to The King Centre in the United States to confirm whether the memorial was involved in organising the award.
Some also argued that the award did not exist prior to its conferment on Mr. Buhari this week.
However, the centre replied late Wednesday, saying it had no connection whatsoever with the award.
“The award given to President Buhari of Nigeria was not given by The King Center, at the request of The King Center or by the children of #MLK and #CorettaScottKing. @MrFixNigeria,” it said on Twitter.
But on Thursday morning, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa responded to the centre’s disclaimer and other allegations of sharp practices directed at the Buhari administration over the controversy.
Dabiri, who is the president’s special assistant on diaspora affairs, clarified that the award did not emanate from the Martin Luther King Centre, saying the Buhari administration did not claim the honour was bestowed by the King Centre, accusing anti-Buhari elements of propagating “fake news.”
