President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has conferred the nation’s second highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon.Tajudeen Abbas.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
Onanuga said the upgrade of the Speaker to GCON from CFR, is in accordance with the National Order of Precedence.
The statement attributed the earlier conferment of CFR award on Abbas to historical error and oversight.
Recalled that Tinubu had in his 64th Independence Anniversary Speech on 1 October, conferred the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) on the Speaker and the Deputy Senate President.
However, this did not go down with members of the house who expressed their dismay during the plenary on Wednesday.
They perceived the CFR award as a slight because the senate President was conferred with the GCON award.
They argued that the House of Representatives is not junior to the Senate and called on Tinubu to take another look at the matter.
“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,” Onanuga said.
(vitalnewsngr.com)
