By Bala Ibrahim
As I write this article, the stage is set for a battle, between Nigeria’s House of Representatives and the Presidency, under the conferment of non-identical awards on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and his counterpart, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
The House was angered and has requested President Bola Tinubu to confer the same national honour on its Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, as was conferred on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. The House also rejected the description of being the “lower chamber” compared to the Senate, stating that Messrs Akpabio and Tajudeen are “first among equals.”
It had since constituted an ad-hoc committee, chaired by the House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, to look into the issue and report to the House within three days, effective from yesterday, Wednesday, 03/10/2024.
It all started on Tuesday when President Tinubu announced the award of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) for the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere Ekun. The President also awarded the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, with the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR).
Dissatisfied with the honours, during a session on Wednesday, a motion of urgent public importance was introduced by one of its members, Hon. Philip Agbese, asking the House to decline the CFR award for Abbas. The House made it clear that Representatives are not inferior to Senators and called for equal recognition of both chambers’ leadership.
After the contribution of many members, a motion was moved, which was supported by the entire members of the House, which also proposed the removal of the terms, “upper chamber” and “lower chamber,” from the legislative lexicon. They emphasized that both chambers of the National Assembly should be considered equal, not placing one above the other. They said, they are all legislators of equal dignity and therefore feel degraded when placed on different scales of such dignity.
A quick look at the dictionary gave me the meaning of dignity as, the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. The dictionary says the word originated from the Latin dignitas, meaning, “worth, worthiness; position, rank, status; authority, office; self-respect, grace, etc”. If we go by the provision, “the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake”, it means dignity is ego-related.
It is simply aimed at massaging the person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance. It is primarily personal and not necessarily official or of any importance to the status of the country. Nothing more, nothing less.
With hindsight, we may recall that the Nigerian National Honours were instituted by the National Honours Act of 1964, during the First Republic, to honour Nigerians who have rendered service to the benefit of the nation. They are a set of orders and decorations conferred upon Nigerians and friends of Nigeria every year. And the aim is simply recognition given to the awardee. How he or she feels about it.
What he or she makes of it, are the essential ingredients of the award. Nothing more nothing less. One may choose to feel honoured by the honour, or feel dishonoured by the honour. Because the issue is ego-related, the choice is in the hands of the recipient. Some even feel disrespected, when honoured by the highest of such awards. That’s the meaning of self-esteem.
In 2008, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, rejected one of the highest national honours that can be bestowed on a citizen by the Nigerian government, the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). He did so in protest of the many years of misrule since Nigeria’s independence.
The same Gani Fawehinmi, who was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the highest legal title in Nigeria, in September 2001, has been parading himself as SAM, the Senior Advocate of the Masses, which was given to him by the students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, in 1988. He was always putting the title SAM before SAN. To Gani, SAM was more prestigious and dignifying than SAN.
This is even though even the government had admitted that he helped open up the political space, including his inputs into jurisprudence and human rights activism. That is one’s choice about the issue of self-esteem.
Julius Nyerere was a teacher, Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed the country first under the name Tanganyika, as prime minister, from 1961 to 1962. On his volution,
Nyerere resigned as prime minister, despite all the pressure on him to continue in office. He was probably the first or second African leader to step down on his own accord.
Amongst the reasons for Nyerere’s rejection of being the President is the fact that he thinks, the prestige of being a teacher, by far outweighs the prestige of being a President. He preferred the prefix, Teacher, to that of President. Hence, he was happiest when you call him, Muallim. That is one’s choice about the issue of self-esteem.
Much as the members of the House of Reps have the right to choose what they make of the National Award, methinks, it’s not an issue that should put them at odds with the Presidency. They have the right to take it, and use it as it is, or simply reject it, without any rancour. That way, they can make a dignity out of indignity.
