Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has given Senator Seriake Dickson, National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), 48 hours to clarify the party’s position on the singing of Nigeria’s former national anthem at its recent town hall meeting in Lagos.
The demand followed an incident on Thursday when Peter Obi, the NDC presidential candidate, and some party supporters sang the former national anthem, ‘Arise, O Compatriots’, during a town hall meeting in Lagos.
In a viral video from the event, Obi, alongside Funso Doherty, the party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State, and other supporters, declined to stand when they were invited to sing the current national anthem, ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’.
The event anchor subsequently switched to the former anthem, which the attendees sang.
Obi also faced the crowd, raising two fingers on both hands to form the NDC’s symbol as they sang.
The incident occurred after the meeting was initially disrupted by suspected political thugs who invaded the venue with cutlasses, cudgels and stones, forcing participants to flee for safety.
Reacting to the development in a post on his verified X account on Saturday, Keyamo criticised the action, arguing that deliberately rejecting a country’s legally recognised national anthem could signal an intention to undermine its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The minister described the national anthem as an important national symbol representing the country’s history, values and sovereignty.
“A National Anthem is one of a country’s national symbols. It represents a country’s history, values and SOVEREIGNTY. It is meant to UNITE citizens,” Keyamo wrote.
He argued that singing an alternative anthem instead of the one prescribed by law could amount to an expression of secessionist intentions.
“When a group of people decide to defy it and sing something different from what others are singing as prescribed by law, that group is preparing grounds to break away from the country. It is one of the ingredients of SECESSION,” he stated.
Keyamo further argued that if the leader of a group endorsed such an action, it would amount to an official position of the organisation.
“And once the leader of such a group endorses the action, it means the group is then OFFICIALLY a secessionist movement,” he added.
The minister subsequently challenged Dickson, whom he described as his former classmate and friend, to publicly clarify whether the NDC officially endorsed the singing of the former anthem as its national symbol.
“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,” he wrote.
Nigeria’s national anthem controversy dates back to May 29, 2024, when President Bola Tinubu signed into law legislation restoring ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’, which replaced ‘Arise, O Compatriots’, adopted in 1978.
The restored anthem was originally used when Nigeria gained independence in 1960.
Keyamo’s demand has placed the NDC leadership under pressure to clarify whether the actions of its members at the Lagos meeting reflected the party’s official position.
