Three days before the Nigeria government is due to confer a National Honour on Professor Chinua Achebe, a family source has told SaharaReporters that the nation’s most celebrated writer has yet to be informed of his nomination by the government.

According to the list of nominations published in Nigerian newspapers, the literary icon is to be honoured with the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR), the same nomination he turned down several years ago, famously asserting that Nigeria's condition at that time under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure, was “too dangerous for silence.”

Concluded Achebe in his letter to Obasanjo; “I must register my disappointment and protest by declining to accept the high honor awarded me in the 2004 Honors List.”

SaharaReporters attempted to confirm whether he would accept this year’s offer in what many consider to be considerably worse circumstances than in 2004, but our source said the writer, who is now at Brown University in Rhode Island, does not officially know anything about his award.




Should Professor Achebe accept the National Honour, he would be appearing in Nigeria at a time that it has developed considerably more intractable political, economic and security issues. Corruption has become more visible, and President Jonathan, while preaching an anti-corruption dogma, has refused to declare his assets; the government is withdrawing petroleum subsidies; Nigeria is still largely in the dark, and Islamic militancy in the North has driven deep security fears into the heart of the administration.

Nigerians are also curious about the quality and placement of many of those who are to be honoured by Jonathan. Businessman Aliko Dangote is being given the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), Nigeria’s second highest honour, the first time it is being offered to someone other than a former occupant of the highest positions in the judiciary and the legislature.

Already, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives has rejected his nomination for the Order of the Federation (OFR), questioning the criteria for nominations. A report said the ACN representative from Lagos State is distancing himself because he objects to many of the characters on the list, and feels that the Honours must be reserved for Nigeria’s best rather than being treated as presidential largesse.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/national-honour-nominee-chinua-achebe-not-contacted-government

Is the government afraid he will always reject the award this time around.