Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, has given Seriake Dickson, national leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), 48 hours to clarify the party’s position on the ‘proscribed’ national anthem sung at its recent Lagos town hall.
On Thursday, Peter Obi, the NDC presidential candidate, and supporters of the party sang the old national anthem, “Arise O’ Compatriots”, during the Lagos meeting.
In a viral video from the event, Obi, alongside Funso Doherty, the NDC governorship candidate in Lagos, and other supporters, rejected the new anthem when asked to stand up for its recital.
Obi subsequently faced the crowd as they sang the old anthem, raising two fingers on both hands to form the NDC logo.
The development comes after proceedings at the event were initially disrupted by thugs who invaded the venue with cutlasses, cudgels and stones, forcing participants to scamper for safety.
Reacting in a post on Saturday, Keyamo faulted the action, linking it to secession.
He described the national anthem as one of a country’s national symbols, saying it represents a country’s history, values and sovereignty and is meant to unite citizens.
He maintained that “when a group of people decide to defy it and sing something different from what others are signing as prescribed by law, that group is preparing grounds to break away from the country”.
“It is one of the ingredients of secession. And once the leader of such a group endorses the action, it means the group is then officially a secessionist movement,” he wrote.
“I am therefore officially calling on the original ‘countryman’, my classmate, my friend and a man of considerable courage from our school days, Senator Seriake Dickson, the official leader of the NDC, to within 48 hours speak up as to whether the NDC officially endorses a proscribed anthem as its own national symbol. The world is waiting.”
On May 29, 2024, President Bola Tinubu signed into law a bill reintroducing the old national anthem following its passage by the national assembly.
The old national anthem, titled ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’, was in use from independence in 1960 until 1978, when it was replaced by ‘Arise, O Compatriots’.
