Members of the house of representatives said their speaker, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, deserves a higher national honour than the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) conferred on him by President Bola Tinubu.
As reported by NewsGazette yesterday, the president had during his national broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 64th Independence Day Anniversary bestowed national honours on some Nigerians including the senate president, Mr Godswill Akpabio, the newly-decorated Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, deputy senate president, Mr Barau Jibrin, Abbas as well as the deputy speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu.
Akpabio and Kekere-Ekun bagged the honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON); Jibrin and Abbas were decorated with the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) medals while Kalu was conferred with the honour of Commander of the Order of Niger (CON).
Reacting to the honour in a motion sponsored by all 360 lawmakers, the house drew attention to the conferment of the GCON on the senate president and the CJN.
The lawmakers, while rejecting the conferment of the honour of CFR on Abbas, contended that both chambers of the national assembly are equal and that the house of representatives should not even be referred to as the lower chamber.
The house also called on President Tinubu to correct the error noting that the GCON honour was conferred on the CJN who is lower in national ranking order than the speaker.
