Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who was recently decorated with Harvard University’s iconic W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, has broken her silence over her non-appearance at Tuesday’s conferment of national honours by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A member of Chimamanda’s communications team, Omawumi Ogbe, confirmed that the award-winning Nigerian author declined the honour.
“Following the recent conferment of national awards by the President, there have been conflicting reports about one of the announced recipients, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
“Some social media users say the award-winning writer rejected the award, while others say she accepted it.
“The author did not accept the award and, as such, did not attend the ceremony. She, however, did not want to create undue publicity around it, so her non-acceptance was conveyed privately,” Ogbe told TheGuardian.
While conferring the award on 447 Nigerians and foreigners, President Buhari had justified the honours, saying the awardees had distinguished themselves in the service of the nation and humanity.
ALSO READ: FULL LIST: Names of all the 447 awardees honoured by Buhari
“We have among the recipients today, Amb. Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who are doing our country proud on the international scene,” Buhari said.
“Our dear sisters are a source of inspiration to our young women that through dint of hard work and dedication, they can achieve greatness.”
Quest Times understands that this is not the first time an honoree will turn down a national honour from a Nigerian president.
Late Prof Chinua Achebe, the world-acclaimed Nigerian literary giant and author of Things Fall Apart, rejected the national honours award in 2004 and 2011, leading to an uproar at the time.