President Bola Tinubu has conferred the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) on Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Rtd), acknowledging his role in the struggle for democracy during the June 12 movement.
The President made the announcement on Wednesday during the commissioning of a 300-bed hospital and vocational training institute in Kaduna State.
Colonel Umar, widely regarded as a “soldier of democracy”, had been notably omitted from the list of June 12 honourees announced on Democracy Day.
Addressing the oversight, President Tinubu publicly apologised for the omission and described him as a man who “stood firm on the side of justice and democratic ideals when it mattered most.”
“Today, let me use this opportunity to correct an omission. Some of those people that I missed during the June 12 broadcast in the National Assembly is Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar. Today, let me correct that by honouring with National recognition of CFR,” the President said during his speech at the commissioning.
Umar, a former military governor of Kaduna State, is celebrated for his bold stance against the annulment of the 1993 presidential election and his unwavering support for democratic governance in Nigeria.
June 12 Honours
Earlier on June 12, during his address to a joint session of the National Assembly to mark Nigeria’s 26th Democracy Day, President Tinubu had conferred national honours on several prominent Nigerians and democracy icons.
Among them were Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka (GCON), Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah (CON), human rights lawyer Femi Falana (CON), and the late Kudirat Abiola, who received a posthumous CFR award for her role in the June 12 struggle.
Others honoured included journalist Sam Amuka-Pemu, members of the defunct Ogoni Nine led by Ken Saro-Wiwa, and former NEC Chairman Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, whose posthumous award followed a previously rejected Senate motion to immortalise him.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has since debunked a circulating list containing unauthorised names, including activist Aisha Yesufu, describing it as “fake news.”
Only the names read by the President during his official Democracy Day address were valid, it clarified.
