The House of Representatives has rejected the Commander of the Federal Republic honor, which was announced by President Bola Tinubu during his Independence Day speech, to be conferred on Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
Instead, the House is urging President Tinubu to confer the title of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger on the Speaker, arguing that the position is higher in protocol than that of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who received the GCON honor.
This decision followed a motion presented by the Deputy Spokesperson of the House, Philip Agbese, along with 248 other members, during a plenary session in Abuja on Wednesday.
Agbese emphasized that the National Assembly is a bicameral legislature made up of two equal chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives, as stated in Section 4 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. He raised concerns that there has been ongoing discrimination against the House, with the Senate often referred to as the “upper chamber” and the House as the “lower chamber,” which he argued undermines the House’s standing.
Agbese said, “There is a growing trend where the President of the Senate is referred to as the ‘Chairman of the National Assembly,’ inaccurately implying a hierarchy between the two chambers, which is contrary to the Constitution. This undermines the authority of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
He pointed out that the recent conferment of national honors further highlights this issue. While the President of the Senate was awarded GCON, the Speaker was given CFR, a lower rank. Agbese also noted that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, who ranks lower than the Speaker in the protocol list, was awarded GCON, which he said exemplifies the unequal treatment of the House leadership.
The House emphasized that the Constitution promotes a balanced, equal bicameral legislature, where both chambers must agree on bills for them to become law. Therefore, the House argued that the Speaker should not be seen as subordinate to the President of the Senate, and called on President Tinubu to reconsider the honors.
