President Muhammadu Buhari's alleged failure to invite Mrs Fati Attahiru, wife of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, and his family, was the reason they boycotted the National Awards ceremony in Abuja on Tuesday.

13 persons were honoured posthumously by the President, including Attahiru but he was not represented at the event which held in Abuja on Tuesday.

Attahiru, who was posthumously awarded Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic, died alongside 10 other senior military officers in the Nigerian Air Force’s Beechcraft aircraft fatal crash in Kaduna on May 21, 2021.

But a PUNCH report is quoting sources close to the family who confirmed to that neither Attahiru’s widow nor any member of his family got an invitation or an official notification to attend the ceremony for such an honour.

One family source said, “Up till this moment (Tuesday), the wife of the late Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Attahiru, was yet to receive an invitation for the award ceremony or any official notification that her husband would be conferred with a posthumous honour.

“The family only got to know about him being on the awardees list through social media. That was why she or any member of the family didn’t show up at the event. We, however, appreciate the President for considering the late Attahiru worthy of an honour as revered as this.”

Effort to reach Fati for confirmation failed even as the Spokesperson, Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Julie Osagie-Jacobs did not take calls.

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