Presidency refutes claims of National Honour for Aisha Yesufu

The Presidency has denied viral reports suggesting that prominent activist Aisha Yesufu and over 30 others were recently awarded national honours by President Bola Tinubu.

Aisha Yesufu, who gained national prominence for her influential role during the 2020 End SARS protests, was reportedly listed among recipients in a document that circulated widely on social media. The list sparked intense public debate, particularly among supporters of the current administration.

However, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, on Friday dismissed the report as entirely false.

“The story on a viral list of national honours featuring the name of Aisha Yesufu and others credited to the Leadership newspaper is fake news. It should be ignored,” Ajayi said in a Facebook post.

He went on to clarify the official position: “The Presidency has not issued fresh names for national honour different from the ones in President Tinubu’s address to the joint sitting of the National Assembly yesterday.”

The confusion arose after a document containing 102 names surfaced online, fueling speculation and controversy. But during his Democracy Day speech on Thursday, June 13, President Tinubu officially named only 66 individuals for recognition.

Posthumous honours were awarded to notable figures such as former Chief of Staff Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, ex-NEC Chairman Professor Humphrey Nwosu—who oversaw the historic 1993 elections—and Kudirat Abiola, a leading voice and martyr of the June 12 pro-democracy movement.

Yesufu, an outspoken critic of the Tinubu administration, was not among those officially announced.