There are growing insinuations that President Muhammadu Buhari will go one better in his battle with alleged past looters of the treasury, by stripping them of their national awards.
The National Honors list is peopled by all sets of questionable characters; some of whom cannot stand the test of credibility, Nigerians have often bemoaned.
Buhari’s position is that the State shouldn’t be garlanding a fraudulent person with national honors.
“The President will not hesitate to strip any corrupt person of national honor. Can you honour a person for milking the nation dry? It is irrelevant how long such persons have been bestowed with the national honors, they will be stripped of them,” a source confided in the Punch.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, confirmed to the paper that it was reasonable that anybody found to be corrupt should be stripped of national honors.
Adesina however said such withdrawal of national honors would not be done until affected persons had been convicted by competent courts.
“Although it has not been considered, it is reasonable that those found guilty of corruption should be stripped of national honors bestowed on them. However, this will not be done before conviction,” the presidential spokesman said.
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