President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday night honoured 100 distinguished Nigerians with the Centenary awards at a very colorful ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.
There was excitement when the presence of all the former Nigerian Heads of State was announced.
Particularly, guests were delighted that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Heads of State, Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, honoured the President’s invitation.
Coincidentally, four of them were absent at the Centenary international conference on peace and human security held on Thursday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja and attended by France President Francois Hollande, many African leaders and representatives of international organizations.
In his brief remarks before the presentation of award to the recipients, President Jonathan apologized to Nigerians who may have felt slighted for not being recognized despite their immense contributions to nation building and evolution of a modern Nigeria.
According to him, “It is very difficult to select 100 people because more than 500 people are qualified to be recognized”.
The President however assured that he would continue to use every opportunity to honour deserving Nigerians.
The award ceremony was attended by First Lady, Patience Jonathan; Vice President Namadi Sambo, President Joyce Banda of Malawi and her Sierra Leonean counterpart as well as the Vice President of Kenya.
Also present were former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, General Oladipo Diya, Senate President David Mark, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, state governors, member of the Diplomatic Corps and top government functionaries.
The Centenary awards were presented in the categories of Governance, Politics and Leadership; Entrepreneur and Endeavour as well as Personal Sacrifices, Patriotism and Activism.
Professor Wole Soyinka did not send show up to pick his award and did not send representative; just as the late Gani Fawehinmi and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti were not represented.
Those who were given posthumous awards were either represented by their children, grand-children or close relatives.
