A renowned activist and pro-democracy fighter, Comrade Razaq Olokoba, has explained the reason he supported the call by a coalition of civil society organizations, CSOs to strip former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the national merit award of Grand Commander of the Order of Niger, GCON.
Olokoba, on a Television Continental, TVC, programme earlier in the week lent his voice to the call by the CSOs at a press conference earlier for the withdrawal of the national merit award from the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last general election, in view of his latest conduct, which is a detraction capable of erupting a lot of scenarios that may be inimical to the tenet of democracy.
The vocal rights crusader, who is the Convener and National President of the Campaign for Dignity in Governance, CDG, could not agree less with the earlier callers for the witdrawal of the honour, believing that Atiku’s desperate search for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s certificate up and down and across the globe is a big embarrassment to the corporate entity called Nigeria, especially when relevant quarters like the BBC and the university in question have confirmed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu truly attended and graduated from the institution!
Olokoba averred that the call for stripping Atiku of the honour is imperative because, even in schools, after graduation, the graduate, who might have been earlier honoured with one award or the other may be recalled and the award withdrawn if found to be no more worthy of retaining the honour due to his conduct that might have been perceived not to be up to the universal standard of such an awardee.
The demand to yank the honour off Atiku, Olokoba said, was not out of line from the CSOs,which he described as part of the conscience of the nation, saying that they must have reached the decision after thorough examination of his character, conduct, pedigree and attitude and found them not to be up to the standard of a supposed holder of such a honour.
The CSOs, Olokoba insisted, “as parts and parcels of the conscience of the nation, have the duty of monitoring the government’s policies and coming out with a submission on what to be done and how such should be done,” adding that “Atiku’s conduct should be like that of other past leaders like Goodluck Jonathan, Yakubu Gowon, Abudusalami Abubakar, and even Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, who is the most talked about past President.”
Olokoba insisted that the above-mentioned former leaders have been living live of eminence since after office and have been offering good advice to the country.
Olokoba asked rhetorically, “With how former President Olusegun Obasanjo described Atiku in one of his books, who could then go to him for recommendation or advice?!”
The youthful youth leader, who cited examples of some foreign countries where such steps of striping their leaders, dead or alive of such a honour if they are guilty of misdemeanors like involvement in genocide and the like, said that the call to give Atiku the same treatment is not out of place, reasoning that such an action would whip other leaders who might want to behave same way to line.
The CDG President insusted that there must be decorum in politics, adding that inciting the people against the people like what happened before the election, when Nigerians nearly became enemies to one other is not good for the country and stripping Atiku of the honour would be a good precedence that would caution others who might want to toe such a line either now or in the future.
