Members of the House of Representatives, have rejected the National Honour of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) conferred on the Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas.
The members who are drawn from various political parties, on Wednesday said the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) should be the one to be conferred on the Speaker.
The lawmakers said it was demeaning to confer the CFR on the Speaker and the GCON on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, by President Bola Tinubu.
The Deputy spokesperson of the House, Philip Agbese who moved a motion of urgent public importance during Wednesday’s plenary session, said it was unacceptable the treatment of the House of Representatives as if it were inferior to the Senate, in apparent reference to the conferment of the GCON on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
He said in the order of protocol, the Speaker is ranked 4th, questioning why the CJN, who is ranked 5th, was accorded a higher honour.
The lawmakers said they were not speaking for Abbas as an individual, but for the Office of the Speaker.
It would be recalled that Tinubu during the October 1 nationwide broadcast on Tuesday to mark the nation’s 64th Independence anniversary conferred different categories of honours on the nation’s leaders during his Independence Day speech on Tuesday.
