Embattled senator Dino Melaye says President Buhari cannot posthumously award MKO Abiola with the GCFR title because the acclaimed June 12 1993 election winner is dead and therefore no longer a citizen of Nigeria.
Speaking on the floor of the senate today, Dino said:
“I am a democrat; I believe very sincerely that Chief M.K.O Abiola deserve even more than the President has pronounced because he is a true patriot, philanthropist and should be sole decorated. But Mr. President, we are governed in the country by the constitution and extant laws.
No matter how beautiful a situation is, the law of the land remains the law of the land. Section (2) says ‘a person shall be eligible for appointment to any rank or holder unless he is a citizen of Nigeria. A dead man is not a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’. We should not be emotional about this.
The law remains the law. 3(2) subject to the next notice, ‘A person shall be appointed to a particular rank of an order when the President receives him in person’. Mr. President, they said ‘in person’. For us to do what we are supposed to do, we would have to amend the provisions of this Act because anything we need to do, we have to do in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
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