- The 10th House of Representatives protested Speaker Abbas’ lower national honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR)
- The lawmakers challenged President Tinubu’s rationale for conferring Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) on Senate President Akpabio
- They called for quick intervention to rectify perceived inequalities in national honours
President Tinubu, in his Independence Day speech to commemorate Nigeria’s 64th anniversary, announced that the Senate President and Chief Justice of Nigeria were honoured with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) while the speaker and deputy senate president were conferred with CFR.
Reacting to this, the 10th House of Representatives, in a unified stance during its plenary on Wednesday, October 2 protested Tinubu’s decision to award Speaker Tajudeen Abbas a lower national honour of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).
House of Reps collectively challenge national honours
During the debate on a ‘Multi-partisan motion on the inappropriate discrimination against the House of Representatives and the presentation of the chamber as inferior to the Senate’, the lawmakers collectively challenged the rationale behind awarding the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.
Hon. Phillip Agbese, serving as the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, sponsored the debate.
GCON honour not limited to specific offices, Agbese explains
Agbese said, “National Honours Act of 1964 does not explicitly prescribe the conferment of specific honours, such as the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) for the President of the Senate or the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and that these distinctions are rooted in customary practice rather than statutory requirement.
“The House further note that the honour of GCON is not restricted to any particular office or individual but can be awarded to any distinguished Nigerian deemed deserving by the President, as evidenced by the recent conferment of GCON on Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by former President Muhammadu Buhari, this House acknowledges the flexibility inherent in the National Honours system and the prerogative of the President in the allocation of such distinctions.”
National assembly sections do not indicate superiority between chambers, Okafor
Citing Section 47 of the 1999 Constitution, Hon. Dominic Okafor said, “I want to read out now, which states that there shall be a National Assembly for the Federation, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. He never said that one is superior to the other.”
Hon. Ali Issa said, “I am from Gombe State, and I am the minority whip of the 10th Assembly. Mr. Speaker, just like my colleagues who spoke about section 4 of the Nigerian constitution, the section clearly stated the creations of the National Assembly, and it clearly specified that the National Assembly is comprised of 109-member Senate and 360-member House of Representatives.
“So, the section of the constitution did not give any other chamber or did not mention that a chamber is higher than any other chamber.
Lawmakers demand swift action to rectify perceived inequalities in national honours
“Mr Speaker, my honourable colleagues, the present Minister of Special Duties is a former member of the House of Representatives, and I believe in his time he will not allow this mistake to continue. While I advise our relevant committees to invite the Honorable Minister of Special Duties and ensure that this amendment or this correction is done, and also they have to report back to this House within seven days, I move that with immediate effect we mandate the relevant committee to invite the Minister of Special Duties with all the relevant committee members that are in charge of this award, and also they should make the necessary corrections with immediate effect. The issue is about the House of Representatives.
“It is not about Mr. Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, but it is about the House of Representatives. Putting the House of Representatives Speaker, the same with the Deputy Senate President position, would not be acceptable by this House chamber. So I call on Mr. President and all the relevant leaders to quickly intervene and make these corrections.”
Ozodinobi emphasises importance of institutional respect over individual recognition
Relatedly, Minority Whip, Hon. George Ozodinobi said, “I wouldn’t be talking from the standpoint of opposition. But I am indeed saddened that each regime that comes, they keep on repeating what their predecessors did. I think something that is very constant, they say, is change.
“I wouldn’t want to say that the president is a listening president. There are indications to show that he is not. But I am thinking that what he has already pronounced needs to be changed before it is confirmed.
“Because we can’t continue to be repeating the mistakes of the past. So he has every opportunity to respect the 360 members of this House who have also fought so hard to bear the responsibility of certain policies of this Government. We are the people that have already tried to calm the entire country down with our number.
“We need to be respected in that form. As other people argued, we are not talking for the person who is sitting as the Speaker. We are talking for the institution.”
Godwin cites National Honours Act in house debate
In his contribution, Hon. Cyril Godwin pointed out that Section 1, Subsection 3 of the National Honours Act of 1963 states, “Subject to Article 2 of this warrant, the numbers of persons appointed to the different ranks of the orders in any calendar year shall not exceed 8. In the case of Grand Commander, which is what is in contest here, in the case of Grand Commander, 2 as respect to the Order of the Federal Republic and 10 as respect to the Order of Niger.
“What it simply means is that for GCON, for every calendar year, it shall not exceed 2 in line with the National Honours Act. So if the Senate President has been given 1, it therefore means we are going to ask in our resolution as well, that the CJN shall relinquish his own for the Speaker, not necessarily Tadu Jinn, but for any Speaker of the House of Representatives, until we amend this Act. You cannot exceed 2 in line with this Act.
“In terms of the number, we are raising our issues in terms of criteria. It has nothing to do with the Act.
It’s time to do the right thing, Godwin advises
“If this is what is stated in the Act, it is for the people who are doing that to consider. And the Order of Protocol that we are referring to was approved by both chambers to place us to where Mr. Speaker is. And so if you are asking, and if you are doing, just like it is automatic for Mr. President, the moment he assumes duty as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President they have, it is automatic.
“It is not also out of order to have the Speaker and the Senate President in the other category automatically. Please, my brother, I think it is time for us to respect the institution to do the right thing that will promote us and give us our placement in the community. Thank you very much.”
Honourable Adekojo calls for rejection of CFR honour
Urging the House to reject the CFR honour, Hon. Adebayo Adekojo said, “I think it would not be out of place for us to outrightly go ahead and amend this motion to reject the honours of CFR at this point.”
In his intervention, Speaker Abbas said, “Honorable, I don’t think it would be respectful to our president if we go to that extreme. Ours is just to appeal and show the reason why things should change.
“It is not like we are trying to confront him or to say what he did is not appreciated. So I would want to kindly ask you to withdraw that prayer, please.”
Only 77 out of 1,442: Report shows slow pace of bill approval in National Assembly
Meanwhile, TheRadar reported that only 77 out of 1,442 bills were passed in Nigeria’s National Assembly between June 2023 and May 2024.
The report showed a significant trend of recycled legislation, with over 50% of Senate bills and nearly 30% of House bills reintroduced from previous assemblies.