House Of Representatives Rejects CFR Honour For Speaker Abbas, Seeks GCON Recognition

The House of Representatives has rejected the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) honour announced by President Bola Tinubu for its Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, during the Independence Day address. Instead, the House has called on the President to confer the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) on the Speaker, maintaining that the office of the Speaker holds greater status than that of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), who was awarded GCON.

This stance emerged following a motion introduced by Deputy House Spokesperson Philip Agbese, supported by 248 other lawmakers, during plenary in Abuja on Wednesday.

Agbese stressed that the National Assembly is constitutionally a bicameral legislature, as outlined in Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution, and that both the Senate and the House of Representatives are equal legislative bodies. He expressed concern over what he termed an “inappropriate culture of discrimination,” where the House of Representatives is often seen as inferior to the Senate, referring to terms like “upper chamber” and “lower chamber,” which misrepresent the legal equality of both.

“Worried by the growing trend where the President of the Senate is referred to as the ‘Chairman of the National Assembly,’ which inaccurately implies a hierarchical structure between the two chambers… his title has no legal basis,” Agbese stated.

He further noted that awarding the Senate President GCON while the Speaker of the House receives CFR perpetuates this misrepresentation, adding that even the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who ranks lower than the Speaker in protocol, was awarded GCON.

Sada Soli, in support of the motion, emphasized that the Speaker of the House should be honoured with GCON, arguing, “The Speaker is the fourth citizen and should be treated accordingly.”

Babajimi Benson (APC – Lagos) also described the disparity as “an institutional error,” adding that “injustice to one is injustice to all.” He noted that in the United States, if both the President and Vice President are unable to serve, it is the Speaker of the House who is next in line, not the Senate President.

Several lawmakers backed the motion, stressing that the House of Representatives, as the chamber representing 360 members, is the backbone of Nigeria’s democracy. They called for an end to the practice of portraying the Senate as superior, urging that all references to the leadership of the National Assembly should reflect the equal status of both the Speaker and Senate President.

In its resolutions, the House called on President Tinubu to amend the National Honours Act of 1964 to ensure that the Speaker of the House receives the GCON title, thereby acknowledging the equal legislative status of both chambers.