The spokesperson of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, Dr. Yunusa Tanko has said controversy trailing the recitation of the old national anthem or the new one passed into law by the Federal government.
Speaking with TheScrutinyNG, Tanko said Nigerians must practice the wordings in either the ‘Arise O Compatriots’ or ‘Nigeria we hail thee’ if the country must make meaningful progress.
Some Nigerians led by former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu have vowed never to sing the new national anthem because President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly breached the Nigerian constitution.
Tanko however said whether old or new, Nigerians must live according to the wordings in the anthem.
“I was listening to the second stanza of our old national anthem which says ‘With lofty heights attain, to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign’. Those are deep, powerful words”.
“So, to me, the issue is not about the content of the national anthem. It is about us as Nigerians exemplifying and practicising what the wordings in the anthem. The two anthems don’t make any difference to me. As a people, we must endeavour to acting out the words”.
“ We must ensure we have a nation where peace and justice reign. This is what will make us what we ought to be. Whether reverting to the old or adhering to the new, we must live according to the words in the anthem. Failure to do that, then we can’t build the Nigeria of our dream”.
