JUST IN: Tinubu Caves In, Upgrades Abbas to GCON Following Lawmakers’ Pushback

President Bola Tinubu has responded to concerns from the House of Representatives by upgrading the national honor for Speaker Tajudeen Abbas to Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). This decision came after objections from lawmakers, who felt the initial conferment of the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) on Abbas was discriminatory.

In his Independence Day address, President Tinubu had announced plans to confer GCON on Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, while Abbas and Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin were slated to receive the CFR honor.

However, the House of Representatives rejected this, stating that awarding GCON to Akpabio and Kekere-Ekun while assigning a lower CFR title to Abbas was unfair. In a statement on Friday, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, confirmed that the president had acted to rectify what was termed a “historical error and oversight.”

Onanuga clarified that the upgrade aligns with the National Order of Precedence, which ensures equal recognition for top parliamentary leaders. The official decoration ceremony for Abbas, Akpabio, and other senior officials is set to take place in the near future.