PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has conferred the award of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) on the Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
This was made known in a statement by the special adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga on Friday night.
According to him, the President in his 64th Independence Anniversary speech on October 1 conferred the Commander of the Federal Republic ( CFR) award on the Speaker and the Deputy Senate President.
This followed protests from members of the Green Chamber 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,” Onanuga stated in parts of the statement.
He added that the Speaker, Senate President and other principal officers of the National Assembly including the Chief Justice of Nigeria would be formally decorated with their new honours later.
The ICIR reports that the President announced the conferment of national honours on various leaders, including the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.
He added that the government would soon announce all the beneficiaries of national honours for 2024.
“The Senate President and the Chief Justice of the Federation have been conferred with the honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). The Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives have the honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), while the Deputy Speaker of the House has been awarded Commander of the Order of Niger (CON),” Tinubu noted.
Multimedia journalist covering Entertainment and Foreign news