The Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication and Orientation, Sunday Dare, has sparked controversy after claiming on his official X handle (@SundayDareSD) that President Bola Tinubu conferred the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The statement, posted at 4:08 pm on Monday, contradicted earlier accounts from the Presidency, which referenced the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) rather than the CON title.
The apparent mix-up has since drawn widespread attention, with Dare’s post garnering over 16,000 views at press time.
In his tweet, Dare highlighted Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Nigeria on Sunday, where he said Tinubu and Modi signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on culture and cooperation, customs cooperation, and survey cooperation.
Dare’s post read, “The bilateral proceeding was chaired seamlessly by President Bola Tinubu. Both Nigeria and India exchanged signed MOUs on Culture Cooperation, Customs Cooperation and Survey Cooperation. The Indian PM was decorated with an honorary national honour CON by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The post includes a 43-second video that captures Tinubu, among other things, putting a garland around his Indian counterpart’s neck.
On the official Nigeria president’s X page @NGRPresident, the presidency shared a post at 4:34 pm on Sunday titled, ‘President Bola Tinubu confers GCON (Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger) honour on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’.
Attached to this post was a statement and a picture of both heads of state in a handshake pose.
Before the presidency made its post, Modi shared the development with his over 103 million X followers some three hours earlier.
Dare’s claim that the president conferred CON on Modi is misleading. The CON honour is below the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) and GCON honours.
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