{"id":657,"date":"2026-06-12T22:13:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=657"},"modified":"2026-06-12T22:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T22:57:59","slug":"june-12-nigerian-president-bestows-national-honours-on-heroes-heroines-of-democracy-full-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=657","title":{"rendered":"June 12: Nigerian President bestows National Honours on 50 heroes, heroines of democracy (Full List)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>*President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has hails heroes and heroines of democracy, as he awards National Honours to 50 Nigerians as the country commemorates its Democracy Day June 12, 2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect<\/p>\n<p>Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has hailed the heroes and heroines of democracy, bestowing National Honours on them on the commemoration of the country&#8217;s 2026 Democracy Day Friday, June 12, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Tinubu disclosed this development Friday as part of activities to mark this year&#8217;s Democracy Day celebrations in the West African country.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"4xmknJ1Qtw\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=673\">UK, Nigeria launch \u00a315m Growth Programme to accelerate investments, economic transformation<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cUK, Nigeria launch \u00a315m Growth Programme to accelerate investments, economic transformation\u201d \u2014 ConsumerConnect \" src=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=673&amp;embed=true#?secret=Dp25WGvsSv#?secret=4xmknJ1Qtw\" data-secret=\"4xmknJ1Qtw\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian leader also took the opportunity of the occasion to reeling off his administration\u2019s goals, results, challenges and efforts to address issues facing the country.<\/p>\n<p>Applauding the heroes and heroines of democracy in Nigeria. Tinubu bestowed national honours on them, and urged Nigerian youths to believe in the country and \u2018build here\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Significance of June 12 in national memory, by Tinubu<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Highlighting the essence of June 12 struggle should not be lost on millions of Nigerians, President Tinubu said the date &#8220;occupies a sacred place in our national memory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The President said June 12 represented more than an election, stating &#8220;it is a defining chapter in our story.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He equally remembered late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, who won a pan-Nigerian mandate transcending ethnicity and religion in the year&#8217;s Presidential Election.<\/p>\n<p>Tinubu averred: &#8220;We remember Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We also remember Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Alfred Rewane, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Commodore Dan Suleiman, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Frank Kokori, Arthur Nwankwo, Chima Ubani, Shehu Musa Yar\u2019Adua, and the many other heroes and heroines of democracy whose sacrifices helped to secure the freedoms we enjoy today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tinubu stressed that as beneficiaries of their struggle, Nigerian leaders and the citizens have a duty to strengthen and deepen the democratic institutions for which they fought.<\/p>\n<p>He stated: &#8220;The greatest tribute we can pay is to build a Nigeria where freedom is protected, justice is upheld, opportunity is expanded, and government is accountable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The President also emphasised that June 12, 1993, revealed the possibility of &#8220;a true Nigerian nation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Heroes of June 12 secured political freedom for Nigerians\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stressing the heroes of June 12 secured political freedom, President Tinubu said: &#8220;Our challenge is to secure economic freedom.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Democracy must be felt in the quality of people\u2019s lives\u2014in opportunities for youths, in prosperous farmers, successful entrepreneurs, and the dignity of our workers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He as well lamented that insecurity the country is addressing is partly due to the collapse of grassroots governance.<\/p>\n<p>Tinubu, however, assured Nigerians that his administration&#8217;s Renewed Hope Agenda is about ensuring that all Nigerians benefit from governance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tinubu: Our generation must secure prosperity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Appreciating efforts of the country&#8217;s forebears on gaining Independence and securing democracy, the President asserted: &#8220;Every generation has a defining responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The generation of our founding fathers secured independence\u2014the generation of June 12 secured democracy. Our generation must secure prosperity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He urged the citizenry to move forward together by rejecting division, cynicism, and despair.<\/p>\n<p>He rather encouraged fellow citizens to embrace unity, hope, and confidence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Let us build a Nigeria united by a common purpose, strengthened by diversity, where justice is accessible, liberty is secure, and opportunity is abundant,&#8221; said he.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some architects of modern democratic Nigeria<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>President Tinubu, in his Democracy Day speech, said among the architects of modern democratic Nigeria, the country has honoured late General Shehu Musa Yar\u2019Adua for his vision of national partnership.<\/p>\n<p>According to the President, in recognition of Yar&#8217;Adua&#8217;s contributions, the Federal Government has approved the revitalisation and renaming of the completed Institute of Petroleum Studies, Kaduna, as the General Shehu Musa Yar\u2019Adua University of Geological Sciences and Engineering Technology.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8220;I am also pleased to announce National Awards to the following Nigerians, who suffered persecution, endured indignities, exile, incarceration, and, at times, solitary confinement, so that we have democracy today&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Barrister Ayoka Lawani<\/li>\n<li>Tunde Fagbenle<\/li>\n<li>Oladele Alake<\/li>\n<li>Olatunji Bello<\/li>\n<li>Louis Odion<\/li>\n<li>Segun Babatope<\/li>\n<li>Sam Omatseye<\/li>\n<li>Sir Ademola Osinubi<\/li>\n<li>Bola Bolawole<\/li>\n<li>Lade Bonuola<\/li>\n<li>Femi Kusa<\/li>\n<li>Debo Adeniran<\/li>\n<li>Chief Ayo Opadokun<\/li>\n<li>Chief Ralph Obiora<\/li>\n<li>Ose Osayande<\/li>\n<li>Barrister Osa Director<\/li>\n<li>Sylvester Odion-Akhaine<\/li>\n<li>Arthur Nwankwo (Posthumous)<\/li>\n<li>Osagie Obayuwana<\/li>\n<li>Joe Okei-Odumakin<\/li>\n<li>Barrister Titus Mann<\/li>\n<li>Joe Igbokwe<\/li>\n<li>Richard Akinnola<\/li>\n<li>Ben Charles-Obi (Posthumous)<\/li>\n<li>George Mbah<\/li>\n<li>Niran Malaolu<\/li>\n<li>Major-General Ishola Williams (Rtd.)<\/li>\n<li>Femi Aborisade<\/li>\n<li>Jenkins Alumona<\/li>\n<li>Gbemiga Ogunleye<\/li>\n<li>Muyiwa Adekeye<\/li>\n<li>Babajide Kolade-Otitoju<\/li>\n<li>Ike Okonta<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>President Tinubu also announced the Federal Government has recognised the soldier-democrats of the June 12 struggle as follows:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Major-General M. A. Garba<\/li>\n<li>Brigadier-General Lawal Jaafaru Isa<\/li>\n<li>Umar Farouk Ahmed<\/li>\n<li>Sambo Dasuki<\/li>\n<li>Lawan Gwadabe<\/li>\n<li>Brigadier Jonathan Ndam Temlong<\/li>\n<li>Musa Shehu;<\/li>\n<li>Major-General Chris Eze;<\/li>\n<li>Major-General Harris Dzarma<\/li>\n<li>Col Isa Jibrin<\/li>\n<li>Major-General Joseph Oshanupin<\/li>\n<li>Olusegun Oloruntoba (Olugbede of Gbede Kingdom)<\/li>\n<li>Lieutenant-Colonel Happy Kefas Bulus<\/li>\n<li>J Okai;<\/li>\n<li>Emmanuel Ndubueze;<\/li>\n<li>-Col Yakubu Muazu<\/li>\n<li>Brigadier Yahaya Abubakar, the current Etsu Nupe, who is already the holder of the CFR title.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Nigerian President disclosed the National Honours list would be released in the next few days.<\/p>\n<p>Tinubu, therefore, urged Nigerians to sustain the country&#8217;s democracy.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8220;Fellow Nigerians, 27 years ago, many doubted democracy would survive here because of our diversity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today, our diversity sustains our democracy. The road ahead is steep. &#8220;But June 12 reminds us: Nigerians do not break. We bend, we bleed, but we do not break.<\/p>\n<p>The President added: &#8220;Let us renew our covenant: That the labours of our heroes past shall never be in vain, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this land.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has hails heroes and heroines of democracy, as he awards National Honours to 50 Nigerians as the country commemorates its&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"default","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","category-regulators"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Democracy-Day-in-NIgeria-cc.png",672,365,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Democracy-Day-in-NIgeria-cc-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Democracy-Day-in-NIgeria-cc-300x163.png",300,163,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Democracy-Day-in-NIgeria-cc.png",672,365,false],"large":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Democracy-Day-in-NIgeria-cc.png",672,365,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Democracy-Day-in-NIgeria-cc.png",672,365,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Democracy-Day-in-NIgeria-cc.png",672,365,false]},"author_info":{"info":["ConsumerConnect"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=20\" rel=\"category\">Highlights<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=8\" rel=\"category\">Regulators<\/a>","tag_info":"Regulators","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=657"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}