President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has bowed to pressure from lawmakers and conferred the nation’s second highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
Naija News reports that this was made known in a statement on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Recall that in his 64th Independence Anniversary Speech on 1 October, President Tinubu conferred the Commander of the Federal Republic( CFR) on the speaker and the deputy senate president.
This development led to a debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, calling on the President to confer a higher honour on the Speaker.
Onanuga stated that President Tinubu was persuaded by the House of Representatives position and has decided to remedy the historical error and oversight.
“Thus, he has decided to upgrade the Speaker to GCON from CFR, in accordance with the National Order of Precedence.
“The speaker, the Senate President, other principal officers of the National Assembly and the Chief Justice of Nigeria will be formally decorated with their new honours later,” he wrote.
Reps Reject Tinubu’s National Honour Award To Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas
Recall that the House of Representatives had rejected the National Honour conferred on Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.
The lawmakers accused President Bola Tinubu of discriminating against the lower chamber of the National Assembly after conferring a higher honour to Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Naija News reported earlier that President Tinubu, while addressing the nation to mark Nigeria’s 64th Independence Anniversary celebration, stated that the Senate President, Akpabio and Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun had been conferred with honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).
Others mentioned for awards include the Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Abbas and Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau were conferred with the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), respectively.
However, following a motion of urgent public importance moved by Philip Agbese on Wednesday, the House resolved the Reps are not inferior to Senators, and therefore, both leaders should be treated equally.
The motion, signed by 360 members of the House, called for the abolition of the “upper chamber and lower chamber nomenclature”, stating that both chambers are equal.
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