Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo chose not to attend its presentation of Anti-Corruption Defender Award to him.
The centre earlier declared that the VP’s award presentation was postponed to protest the ill-treatment of convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore.
In a statement on Tuesday, WSCIJ Executive Director, Motunrayo Alaka, said: “We were wrong and the Vice-President is right. WSCIJ accepts the statement from the Vice President’s Office as the true position on its intended award to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
“An in-house communication gap caused the difference in the use of language and we accept responsibility for this. The WSCIJ stands by its intention to award the Vice President the Integrity Specialty of its Anti-Corruption Defender Award.”
Earlier, The Herald gathered that the office of the vice president made public the letter which Osinbajo wrote to the organizers of Anti-corruption Defender Award of 2019.
The letter made available to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, indicated that the vice president had given two reasons why he would not be able to attend the event held on Monday in Lagos.
Osinbajo said his first reason was that he would be in Abu Dhabi for an international meeting under the auspices of the government of the United Arab Emirates where he was the keynote speaker.
The vice president’s second reason was that he thought it’s insensitive to attend the ceremony in view of the recent developments on Friday in the Sowore’s case.