President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday succumbed to pressure and conferred the nation’s second highest national honour, the Gran tod Commander of the Order of the Niger, (GCON) on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas
This was contained in a statement signned by the Special Adviser to the President(Information and Strategy) Bayo Onanuga.
Recall that In his 64th Independence Anniversary Speech on 1 October, President Tinubu conferred the Commander of the Federal Republic ( CFR) on the speaker and the deputy senate president.
However, on Wednesday, the House of Representatives issued a statement, describing the conferment of CFR to the leadership as degrading to number four man in the country while number five man (Chief Justice of the Federation) was conferred with GCON.
According to the statement, this development led to a debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, calling on the President to confer a higher honour on the Speaker.
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, the statement added.