It’s insulting to say our award on Buhari was paid for – MLK

A member of the Martin Luther King family, Farris Isaac Newton, has debunked the claim that the award given to President Muhammadu Buhari by their foundation was fake and paid for.
Newton, a former CEO/ President of the MLK centre for 5years and currently senior fellow at the foundation, spoke with journalists shortly before the family’s departure for the USA.
The foundation had conferred the 1st Black History Month National Black Excellence and Exceptional African Leadership Award 2018 on President Buhari.
But some Nigerians derided the award, describing it as being paid for. In a reaction however, Newton said, it was an insult on hi the MLK family to say they were paid for the award. “I am here in Nigeria having enjoyed my stay.
It’s my first time, hopefully not the last. I am a member of the MLK family here in Nigeria.
“Anyone who has said that anybody paid us to come here is insulting me and my family. I am a nephew of MLK and anyone else in my family. It is a fake news, lies, slander, it is a lie on my good character. “Anything that I have done here in Nigeria or said about the President is coming from my head, devoid of any compensation, either inducement or exchange for anything, and I stand by it. “We don’t deal like that. The MLK family includes three families; MLK junior who is the second son, my mother and my uncle. None of us, throughout the three branches, are buyable. We don’t do things for money, we do things on principle. It is insulting, anyone in Nigeria should be ashamed, it’s embarrassing, it’s a slander on our good name.
We are here in Nigeria to establish new bond between Americans and Africans.
Please, let us not let this be the story, let us not make this beautiful story something bad,” the MLK family said.
Some notable Nigerians, including former minister of education, Oby Ezekwesili, and the co-convener of the BringBackOurGirls, BBOG movement, Aisha Yusufu, took to social media, to slam President Buhari over the award.

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