The King Center, the official living memorial to Martin Luther King, and the body in charge of the award has distanced itself from the Black History award given to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Taking to its Twitter page on Wednesday, the group said “The award given to President Buhari of Nigeria was not given by The King Center, at the request of The King Center or by the children of #MLK and #CorettaScottKing”

The award given to President Buhari of Nigeria was not given by The King Center, at the request of The King Center or by the children of #MLK and #CorettaScottKing. @MrFixNigeria

— The King Center (@TheKingCenter) March 28, 2018

The fake award, delivered by Dr Naomi Barbara, a distant relative of Martin Luther King, was facilitated by Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Foreign Relations & Diaspora, LeadersNG reports.

The president is said to have been in the dark and did not know until the day of the award.

Dabiri is reported to have contracted a former aide of former Ghanaian President John Mahama, Erieka Bennett to help bring the Martin Luther King Jnr family to Nigeria.

The move was to launder the president’s image as the nation starts preparing for the 2019 general elections.

The award, for which the Nigerian government reportedly $3m was paid, is not on official portals that were opened strictly to promote the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination.