Former presidential spokesman, Laolu Akande has stated that the change of the national anthem by the Tinubu-led administration is a ploy to distract the citizenry from the major challenges that face the country.
Akande made the statement while answering questions on reintroduction of the old national anthem on Channels Television flagship programme, Sunrise Dally on Thursday morning.
“I do understand that it’s a decoy. You know, the people in Government have the leverage to do certain things at their whims, you know, so somebody just had a brainwave and think that, oh, wow, the whole damn thing is better than this.
“You know, throw it out there. We can do it. Let’s get it done. Give them a talking point. You know, get them to focus, you know, to take away their focus from the more important issues. And hey, regularly Nigerians fall for the bait.
“We keep talking about it and then we leave the more important issues. I think that it is really a non-issue. We should move forward and hold the government accountable.
“How are we sorting the issue of hardship in this country? You know, what has happened to the problem of poverty? The social investment program, is it back on track? You know, what is happening? Are we paying subsidy or not? These are the bigger issues. But guess what? They’ve managed to divert us again. Akande lamented.
Speaking further the veteran journalist frowned at the rate and pace at which the national anthem bill was passed and signed into law without recourse to the public for their opinion.
He said, “It takes us away from the more important issues, and it also reflects the fact that the way we relate both the government and the people is basically on an ad hoc basis. You don’t get a sense that there is an ongoing effective engagement.
“I must concede, that this president has been more engaging, more responsive, even when we disagree with him, but you still have a situation where we don’t have an effective engagement with the people, which is why, for instance, they could just go and do a new law without having a public hearing, and then there’s a debate, oh, we don’t have to do public hearing, we have to do public hearing.
“The important thing about the public hearing is that that is one of the things that demonstrate the democratic nature of the process of, I mean, it’s not that you have to do what they say at the public hearing, you are the guys that have been voted to make the law, but because you are democrats and you understand the power inside with the people, you take everything to them.
“You give a view, you know, a perception that it is about the people, because it ought to always be about the people.”
Recall that President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday signed into law a bill reversing the national anthem to the old version which was handed over to the nation by her colonial masters.
The law reintroducing the old national anthem was however met by severe criticism by majority of Nigerians as they described the action of the government as a misplacement of priority.
