Tinubu honours ex-Colonel Abubakar Umar with CFR

President Bola Tinubu has conferred the national honour of CFR on Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, a former military governor of Kaduna State.

The president announced this during his one-day working visit to Kaduna State on Thursday.

He acknowledged that Mr Umar should have been included among those given national honours during the recent Democracy Day celebrations on 12 June.

“Let me use this opportunity to correct an omission,” Mr Tinubu said. “One of the people I missed in my June 12 broadcast is Colonel Dangiwa. Let me honour him with CFR.”

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the president conferred national honours on dozens of pro-democracy activists during this year’s Democracy Day celebration. Those honoured were those who fought against military dictatorship. Some of the awardees were honoured posthumously. There were, however, concerns that the Nigerian leader missed some prominent persons, including Mr Umar.

Mr Umar governed Kaduna State from August 1985 to June 1988 during the Ibrahim Babangida military regime.

He retired from the army in 1993 and became a social critic. He was jailed by the Sani Abacha regime for demanding good governance and a return to democracy. Many Nigerians consider him to be one of the pro-democracy activists who fought for the country’s democracy, especially during the Abacha dictatorship.