Peter Obi and supporters of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) rejected the current national anthem at a party town hall meeting in Lagos, opting instead to recite the version used before 1978.
The former Labour Party presidential candidate, who is now the NDC’s presidential candidate, joined the party’s Lagos governorship candidate, Funso Doherty, and other attendees in singing Nigeria, We Hail Thee on Thursday.
The switch followed an invitation by the event anchor for participants to stand for the national anthem. Rather than sing the current anthem, Arise, O Compatriots, the attendees declined, prompting the anchor to lead them in the old version.
Start tomorrow informed
Save your place for the morning brief. We’ll start emailing when delivery goes live.
Free. Confirm by email. Unsubscribe anytime.
Obi faced the crowd as they sang, raising two fingers on both hands to form the NDC logo.
The development comes amid renewed political activity ahead of the 2027 general elections and follows the controversy surrounding the reintroduction of the old anthem by President Bola Tinubu in May 2024.
The anthem, Nigeria, We Hail Thee, was adopted at independence in 1960 and remained in use until 1978, when it was replaced by Arise, O Compatriots.
Tinubu signed the National Anthem Bill into law on May 29, 2024, after its passage by the National Assembly.
The Lagos town hall meeting was also disrupted earlier by suspected thugs who reportedly invaded the venue with cutlasses, cudgels and stones, forcing participants to flee for safety.
Obi had won Lagos State in the 2023 presidential election with 582,354 votes while running on the Labour Party platform, defeating the APC in a state considered one of its strongholds.
Discussion0