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ABUJA - President Olusegun Obasanjo may officially request the National Council of State later this month to withdraw the National Honour bestowed on Former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Tafa Adebayo Balogun following his recent imprisonment.
ABUJA - President Olusegun Obasanjo may officially request the National Council of State later this month to withdraw the National Honour bestowed on Former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Tafa Adebayo Balogun following his recent imprisonment. President Olusegun Obasanjo had at the International Conference Centre, Abuja publicly decorated Tafa Balogun alongside 201 Nigerians and twelve foreigners whose names were contained in the Year 2002 National Honours List in December 2002.
Their recognition was recommended by the Federal Executive Council and ratified by the Council of State subsequent upon which they were decorated individually and given the Presidential handshake.
Also in 2003, among the 231 eminent Nigerians and deserving foreigners that were conferred with National Honours were the then Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun who was decorated with the elitist Commander of the Federal republic (CFR) award together with former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe and the current Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih. Following his trial and conviction barely three years after the pomp and pageantry that heralded the decoration, Presidency Sources yesterday hinted Vanguard of the commencement of the process of delisting Tafa from the long list of beneficiaries of the National Honours. According to the reliable source, 'if you remember, the immediate past Minister for Special Duties had earlier mentioned that any public office holder who gets decorated after being named as a recipient of the National Honours would get his medal withdrawn.
while in office as the Inspector General of Police. ''Such a person cannot come back and still retain the award bestowed on him by the highest ruling body of this country. Responding on what the process entails, the impeccable source disclosed that, ''the process has started in earnest and awaiting Presidential approval to be tabled before the appropriate body that would sanction its withdrawal following very obvious reasons. Cornered on the corridor of the Presidential Villa, Abuja yesterday, Special Duties Minister, Mohammed Musa confirmed to Vanguard that the machinery for withdrawing the award from the Former Top Cop has been set in motion.
When asked if he was working along the line of stripping the Former Inspector General of Police of the National Honours, he said, ''I have said it before that we will withdraw any honour given to anybody who is proven to be corrupt and we were just awaiting the decision of the court. ''All I can tell you now that we have all seen the outcome of the court process is that we have commenced the process of withdrawing the National Honour bestowed on the Former I.G.,"" the Minister hinted.
On the time the process commenced and at what stage the Presidency was, the Minister''s response was that, ''details of the withdrawal would be made public as at the right time. ''I cannot start telling you here now when it all started, how long it would take or who would act on the process, all you should just take from me is that in the Nigeria of today, it is no more business as usual. ''Anybody who is given an opportunity to serve in a public office and who decides to get involved in things that would land him behind bars cannot simply continue to retain the prestigious National Honours if he was ever decorated for any good he had done in the past. ENDS234-803-3042266