President Bola Tinubu has formally conferred the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) on Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd.), acknowledging his role in Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement and correcting what he described as an earlier oversight.

The announcement was made on Thursday during the commissioning of a 300-bed hospital and vocational training institute in Kaduna.

Tinubu used the occasion to publicly recognise Umar, who was not included in the Democracy Day honours announced on June 12.

“Let me use this opportunity to correct an omission,” the president said. “Some of those people that I missed out during the June 12 broadcast at the National Assembly include Colonel Dangiwa. Today, let me correct that by honouring him with the national recognition of CFR.”

Colonel Umar, a former military governor of Kaduna State, became a notable critic of successive regimes after his retirement, particularly for his opposition to the annulment of the 1993 presidential election. He has since maintained a consistent stance on democratic governance and civil liberties.

His exclusion from the June 12 honours list prompted criticism from segments of the civil society and democracy advocates, many of whom viewed him as a central figure in the resistance to military rule in the 1990s.

President Tinubu described the award as a belated but necessary acknowledgement of Umar’s contributions to Nigeria’s democratic journey, saying it was in recognition of his courage and commitment during a critical period in the country’s history.

Earlier this month, Tinubu conferred national honours on 66 individuals during a joint session of the National Assembly to mark Democracy Day. The list included posthumous awards for notable figures such as Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Humphrey Nwosu, Alex Ibru and Kudirat Abiola, who were recognised for their roles in the fight for democracy.

Umar has yet to publicly respond to the recognition, but associates close to him noted that he had long insisted that service to the country did not require formal acknowledgement.