Why would Goodluck Jonathan even approve this .It is almost like awarding the head of PHCN a national award .What do you think ?
Ogbonaya Onovo, the Inspector General of Police, was among 186 Nigerians from different strata of the society who were honoured with the 2009 National Award by President Goodluck Jonathan.
But Mr. Onovo, who said he was quite happy at the honour done him, was not impressed with the question from NEXT about whether he thought it was justified for him to get such an award in the face of the rising crime and insecurity in the country.
The police boss, who refused to answer the query, said it was a stupid question meant to provoke him, rather than one “borne out of genuine journalistic curiosity.” He said members of the public should decide if he deserved the award or not.
“Answer it for yourself,” he said. “You are a member of the public. If I don’t deserve it, say so.
"I can’t answer stupid questions, because insecurity is all over the world. There is no society where there is no crime. You can’t tell me of any society, if you know one, tell me. So, I think it is not a proper question and I will not answer it..
“You have come to provoke. You haven’t come to ask questions as journalists who want to know and who want to disseminate information,” adding, “Your question had spoilt my happy mood.”
However, the questions that so infuriated the usually amiable Mr. Onovo were the sort that reporters had asked all the other awardees.
The 186 recipients included Mike Akhigbe; Aloysius Katsina-Alu; and Joseph Wayas, who received the award of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger,(GCON).
Others were the chief of staff to the president, Mike Oghiadomhe; the head of service of the federation, Stephen Oronsaye; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Niki Tobi; the emir of Gwandu, Mohammadu Ilyasu Bashar; the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi; Ghali Umar Na’Abba; and Patricia Etteh, who all received the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) award.
Critical observations
Speaking at the four-hour ceremony, which was attended by families and well wishers of the awardees, Mr Jonathan said overcoming the challenges facing the country can only be achieved with the collective dedication and participation of all patriotic Nigerians.
“We must make honour-inspiring acts part of our national culture. The times call for men and women who are willing to live above primordial loyalties and commit their all to the general good,” he said.
“By reason of your decoration today, you have become national ambassadors of hope and agents of change. You have an abiding duty to this generation of Nigerians and our common posterity to always live up to the high standards to which you will be held,” he told the recipients.
Noting that the national honours are part of Nigeria’s national heritage which must be preserved, Mr. Jonathan promised that his administration will work to “raise the bar” so as to challenge Nigerians to strive harder for greater excellence in all fields of human endeavour.
The award had however come under criticisms, and a number of people have wondered if some recipients had not bought the awards, considering their antecedents.
Mr. Jonathan said at the occasion that the federal government noted the critical observations and will put such observations to good use in strengthening the prestige and integrity of the awards.
The Nigerian National Honours are a set of orders and decorations conferred upon Nigerians and friends of Nigeria every year. The awards were instituted by the National Honours Act No. 5 of 1964, during the First Republic, to honour people who have rendered service to the benefit of the nation.
Predators of the press
Mr. Onovo had undoubtedly led in the search and release of the four journalists who were kidnapped in the south-eastern part of the country recently, and for which the police was widely commended but also vilified for allowing kidnapping to thrive in the country.
Indeed, Mr. Onovo, who received the honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), was on May 2010, listed as one of the “40 predators of the press in the world” by the international rights group, Reporters without Borders, during its World Press Day celebration.
According to the group, the names on the list are “powerful, dangerous, violent, and above the law,” thus the nomenclature, “Predators of Press Freedom.”
The group had further blamed the Nigeria Police Force, led by Mr. Onovo, for making the country “one of the world’s most violent countries for journalists.”
