Martin Luther King’s award to Buhari not fake – Abike Dabiri
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has defended the commemorative award presented to President Muhammadu Buhari by the family of legendary American civil rights activist, the later Martin Luther King Jnr, insisting that the award is genuine and done without any pecuniary gains.
Dabiri-Erewa explained that the award was in appreciation of the President’s fight against corruption, adding that the visit of the MLK family members to Nigeria was not sponsored by the Federal Government.
The, plaque presented to the President had generated reactions and criticisms on social media, with many describing the award as fake and allegedly used to extort money from the Presidency.
But Dabiri-Erewa maintained that the commemorative plaque given to Buhari was presented on behalf of the Martin Luther King family and not the MLK Centre as being speculate PC in the social media.
Dabiri-Erewa said, “Our attention has been drawn to obviously fake online news reports on the visit of some members of the MLK family to Nigeria.
“The members, led by the Matriarch of MLK, Naomi Barbara King, were in Nigeria as part of the activities initiated to celebrate a low-key Black History Month in Nigeria as part of deepening partnership between Africa and its Diaspora.
“As part of the activities, the family members visited President Buhari and gave him a commemorative plaque for his fight against corruption and what they termed from the “Africania Diaspora” a term for Africans in Diaspora for which the oldest of them all, Naomi Barbara King, was selected to present on behalf of the family (Not MLK Centre) as a sign of appreciation to the President.”
Dabiri-Erewa further dismissed certain insinuations that the federal government paid for the award, insisting that nothing could be further from the truth.
She said, “It must be categorically stated here that the trip was totally privately funded and not one kobo was spent by the Nigerian government, as it was all a private initiative.”
