The Nigerian Senate held a closed session on Thursday to deliberate on changing the national anthem. The proposal is to replace the current anthem with the former one, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” which was adopted as the country’s first national anthem on October 1, 1960, and was replaced in 1978 by the Olusegun Obasanjo military regime.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio ruled that the legislators should return to the plenary to pass the bill for its first and second readings on Thursday. Akpabio noted that any Nigerian interested in contributing could attend a public hearing on the matter at the Senate building, a source in the Senate revealed.
“The Senate President just ruled that we should go back to the plenary to pass the bill for the first and second readings today. Thereafter, any Nigerian who is interested can come to the Senate building for a public hearing,” the source said.
The source privy to the discussions in the executive session indicated that the Senate leadership “wants the bill to bring the old anthem back and wants the bill to pass the first and second readings today.”
Senators Danjuma Goje and Adams Oshiomhole advocated for a public hearing before the amendment, but the Senate leadership pushed for the new anthem to be replaced with the former one, hence the urgency to pass the bill’s first and second readings on the same day.
The matter, listed in the Senate Order paper on Thursday, generated arguments and counter-arguments in the executive session. Senator Yahaya Abubakar from Kebbi, a former Senate Majority Leader, advised that there should be consultations across the country. He expressed concern that amending or changing the national anthem via a bill might seem like a move to divert attention away from the economic crisis affecting Nigerians.
However, Senator Victor Umeh of the Labour Party supported the Senate leadership’s move to change the anthem by amending the bill, disagreeing with Senator Oshiomhole’s position. Senator Umeh used Rwanda as an example and praised the former anthem as a good draft, fully supporting the leadership’s decision to revert to the former anthem.
“He is against any public hearing and stated that a public hearing will open Pandora’s box. Senator Umeh doesn’t want Nigerians to be part of the decision on whether to drop the present national anthem or not and replace it with the former anthem,” the source said. “He said that allowing Nigerians to ventilate their opinions will cause anarchy. He has been doing ‘eye service’ for Senator Akpabio, supporting everything he says.”
The source also noted that Senator Umeh had opposed lifting the suspension of Senator Ningi Abdul despite the support from the Labour Party leader, Peter Obi. “This is a clear departure from what his party stands for. Senator Umeh needs to be exposed for Nigerians to know his true color and character,” the source added.