The Presidency has described as “fake news” reports that President Bola Tinubu has awarded national honours to human rights activist Aisha Yesufu and 35 others.
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.”
Names of the heroes of democracy were announced by President Tinubu on Thursday, June 13, as part of the activities marking the 2025 Democracy Day celebration.
A circulating document on social media listing 102 names had gone viral, stirring heated debates, especially among supporters of the Tinubu administration.
However, only 66 awardees were announced during Tinubu’s Democracy Day address at the joint sitting of the National Assembly in Abuja.
Among the posthumous awardees were a former Chief of Staff, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua; a former NEC Chairman who oversaw the 1993 elections, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu; and the wife of MKO Abiola and martyr of the June 12 struggle, Kudirat Abiola.
