‘Tinubu is a listening leader’ — Abbas speaks on upgrade of his national honour

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, has commended President Bola Tinubu for conferring on him the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).

In his Independence Day speech, Tinubu said Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), will be conferred with the GCON.

The president said Abbas and Barau Jibrin, deputy president of the senate, would get Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR).

On Wednesday, lawmakers in the lower chamber of the national assembly rejected the CFR honour.

The house said it was “discriminatory” for Tinubu to confer GCON on Akpabio and Kekere-Ekun while reserving CFR for Abbas.

On Friday, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said the position of the house prompted the president to remedy the “historical error and oversight”.

Onanuga clarified that the upgrade of Abbas from CFR to GCON aligns with the National Order of Precedence.

In a statement on Saturday by Musa Abdullahi Krishi, his spokesperson, Abbas described the president’s action as a “shining example of exemplary leadership”.

The speaker praised the president for listening to the concerns of the house while congratulating the lawmakers “for the historic achievement”.

“I thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for correcting the mistakes by past administrations of not according the House its constitutional recognition,” the statement reads.

“The President has once again demonstrated his democratic credentials of being a true democrat, an objective and a listening leader.

“With this development, Nigeria and indeed the world, now know that the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the same status as its sister chamber, the Senate, and is treated as such.

“I thank the President for heeding the voices of reasoning from the House and other well-meaning Nigerians.”

Abbas also thanked his colleagues for rising against the “age-long discrimination” of the house of representatives.