Fatshimetrie, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Bola Tinubu, has created controversy with the announcement, during his Independence Day address on October 1, 2024, of the conferring of national honours on some senior civil servants. The move has sparked a heated reaction not only in the National Assembly but also in many discussion circles and on social media.
The President conferred the title of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, GCON, on the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the new Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, while he bestowed the third highest honour, Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR, on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
This decision led to a tumultuous session in the House of Representatives, with members unanimously rejecting the apparent denial of the status of the Green Chamber. They argued that the House enjoyed equal status with the Senate under the Constitution, and that the CJN, ranked fifth in the National Order of Precedence, should not have been accorded a higher honour than the Speaker of the House.
Indeed, Article 47 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) merely states: “There shall be a National Assembly for the Federation which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives”. It does not explicitly state that one house is superior to the other. The notion of an upper and lower house is a vestige of our old parliamentary system that we have abandoned and is not in keeping with the presidential system that we have been practicing for the past 35 years.
The two houses have equal legislative status. No bill is sent to the President for approval unless it has been passed or approved by both houses. The Order of Precedence is established to ensure that there is no power vacuum in the event of the death or permanent incapacity of the President, the First Citizen. The Vice President, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House are designated as the Second, Third and Fourth.
The CJN is not involved in the order of succession. But as the head of the third estate of the federal state, the CJN is rightly given the GCON.
The Senate is ahead of the House in terms of power and prestige. It is the only legislative chamber constitutionally authorized to confirm certain categories of presidential appointments, including that of the CJN. The Senate represents the equality of the states of the Federation, that is, three per state or 109 senators. The House represents the people and the areas, that is, 360 members.
Governors run for the Senate after serving their full term. None are ever elected to the House of Representatives.. Furthermore, although the National Assembly holds its plenary sessions in the Green Chamber due to its greater seating capacity, the Senate President presides as the head of the National Assembly, while the Speaker of the House acts as the vice president. Senators enjoy higher privileges.
The quarrel is useless. The members of the House should stop chasing shadows. Many challenges await their attention.