Philip Agbese, the House of Representatives’ deputy spokesman, has praised President Bola Tinubu for complying with the House’s request to upgrade Speaker Tajudeen Abbas’ national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic to Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger.

During his nationwide broadcast on Tuesday to commemorate Nigeria’s 64th anniversary of independence, Tinubu awarded national honours to a number of notable Nigerians, including Speaker Abbas, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau.

In a plenary session, Agbese thanked the President for the distinction and, in a resolution of urgent public significance, brought the Speaker’s discriminatory treatment to the notice of his colleagues, emphasising that the House was not subordinate to the Senate.

In his defence, Agbese pointed out that although the Speaker—who comes in fourth in the protocol hierarchy—was given a CFR, Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who comes in fifth, received a higher distinction of GCON.

Elected officials from various political parties praised the Benue legislator and urged President Tinubu to look back at the historical precedent and make the necessary corrections.

Speaker Abbas received the GCON accolade on Friday, the President stated in a statement signed by his media assistant, Bayo Onanuga.

Agbese begged President Tinubu to elevate Kalu’s Commander of the Order of the Niger to the Commander of the Federal Republic in a phone 

“What our commander-in-chief, the president, and our leader have done has clearly shown that he is a listening leader,” he declared. We are thrilled that he paid attention to what we had to say, acknowledged the Office of the Speaker’s rightful place in history, and made the necessary corrections.

We begged His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to look into the historical anomaly a few days ago, and he has taken the appropriate action. We are appreciative.

But we’re also requesting that the Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon. Benjamin Kalu, be granted CFR status instead of just CON.

As it happens, the Deputy Senate President received a CFR. It makes sense that his House equivalent be given the same standing.

As we discussed last week, the institutions are at issue here, not the individual. For posterity and history, this is what we are doing. It is known that the President will repeat the same action.