Nigeria’s Ambassador to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has faulted the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, and supporters of the party for jettisoning the national anthem and reciting the old one during a held town hall meeting held by the party.
Omokri criticised the act, stating that the current anthem symbolizes what binds Nigerians together, stressing that anyone who publicly disregarded it should not expect citizens to entrust them with the country’s leadership.
He made the comment in a statement on Friday, after Obi and the NDC supporters sang the‘Arise, O Compatriots’, at the NDC town hall meeting in the Oregun area of Lagos State yesterday, citing Section 24(a) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which obliges Nigerian citizens to abide by the constitution and respect its ideals, institutions, national symbols and legitimate authorities.
The ambassador maintained that respecting the country’s national anthem was a duty for all Nigerians, adding that the power to determine it rested with the President and the National Assembly.
“If you are prepared to openly and unapologetically disrespect these symbols, then what should Nigerians expect from you?”
“If you won’t respect your country’s Constitution. If you won’t respect your homeland’s National Football Team. If you won’t respect your nation’s National Anthem. How do you expect 235 million Nigerians to entrust you with their fate?” Omokri said.
The controversy came after the restoration of the old national anthem through the National Anthem Act 2024, which was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2024.
Under the National Anthem Act 2024 restored ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’, which had been the country’s national anthem from independence in 1960 until it was replaced with ‘Arise, O Compatriots’ in 1978.