By Kolawole Ojebisi
A former military governor of old Kaduna State, Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd), has advised President Bola Tinubu against surrounding himself with sycophants.
Dangiwa described sycophancy as a “scourge” which needed to be tamed before being mistaken for a norm in the country’s polity.
The retired military officer made this call in a statement dated June 29, 2025 but obtained by the New Diplomat today.
The statement titled,‘My CFR National Honours Award’, formally announced the acceptance of the honour given to Dangiwa on his role in the June 12 struggle by Tinubu.
“Sycophancy everywhere has become the scourge of selfless and accountable leadership. It is the reason for the arrogance and vanity we see in our leaders at all levels. Men of straw are widely and falsely being elevated to the position of icons by self-seeking sycophants.
“Mr President must lead in a war against sycophancy in all its forms. This must allow for no exceptions including the rapidly growing trend of naming and renaming public institutions, facilities and other infrastructure after a President or State Governor while in office. The other day, the Senate President was reported to have predicted that President Bola Tinubu will win the 2027 election with 99.9% of the votes! Even allowing for the fact that this Senate President is widely known for his humorous incitement, Mr President will do well to shun such oracles,” Umar said.
Recall that Tinubu had on Democracy Day conferred national honours on some Nigerians both alive and dead for their participation in the pro-democracy struggle to return Nigeria back to civilian rule.
Tinubu announced the names of the recipients of the national honours during his speech to a joint session of the National Assembly on June 12.
Those announced cut across various professions including journalism, entrepreneurship, and even the military.
The individuals honoured were at the vanguard of the campaign for the actualization of the mandate of Chief MKO Abiola the winner of the June 12 1993 election annulled by the then military dictator, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
While Tinubu omitted Umar’s name during the democracy day celebration, he corrected the mistake days later, on June 19, in Kaduna when he conferred the national honour of the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) on retired Colonel Umar for his courageous roles in the fight for democracy during the June 12 struggle.
Tinubu apologised to the retired military officer for mistakenly omitting his name during the democracy day broadcast while inaugurating projects in his state of Kaduna.
