On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu returned Nigeria to using her old national anthem: ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’.
One other story was also tracked from the seat of power, Aso Rock villa, within the week under review.
1. As Tinubu resurrects ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ anthem
Tinubu, on May 29 which marked his first year in office, signed the National Anthem Bill 2024 into law which saw to the abandonment of the ‘Arise O Compatriots’ and reintroduction of the old ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ anthem.
The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, disclosed this during a joint plenary of the National Assembly.“…the genealogical of our birth, that though we may belong to different tribes, though we may have different tongues, in brotherhood we all stand,” Akpabio said, while commending the President for assenting to the bill.
Tinubu’s assent to the bill and its swift passage by the National Assembly shows that the ruling class can actually get things done very quickly if it chooses to, despite claims to resource challenge. Ultimately, it reaffirms the claim that politics is an interest-driven game.
Indeed, the change of the anthem, in the eyes of critics, may have shown Tinubu as one who has time for issues that have near zero impact on pressing national challenges, though a few may argue that it speaks to the urgent need to reinvent Nigeria’s value systems.
READ ALSO:ASO ROCK WATCH: As Tinubu resurrects ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ anthem. One other talking point
Beyond these, the President and his team may have unwittingly reintroduced the subject of colonial mentality by returning the country to an old anthem written by a British woman, Lillian Jean Williams.
Two other talking points
2. The Ngelale-Onanuga battle of spokesmen
A degrading drama played out at the presidency on May 28 when Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onaguga, caused a released that was, however, dismissed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Ajuri Ngelale, who categorically asserted: “In view of public commentary concerning the President delivering a speech before a Joint Sitting of the National Assembly tomorrow, May 29, 2024, it is important to state that this information is false and unauthorized as the Office of the President was not involved in the planning of the event.”
Onanuga and Ngelale’s conflicting statements may have provided an insight into possible in-fighting among Tinubu’s image managers, and or the seeming lack of coordination in the presidency.
It, therefore, raises fundamental questions as to how the presidency is administered in terms of organizational structure and reporting lines. This, therefore, leaves a sour taste as many are mischievously positing that the development may correctly reflect a harp hazard picture of affairs at the presidency.
Would Onanuga and Ngelale drop their differences and work together in order to avert embarrassing moments like this? Or, would they extend their dirty fight for supremacy? Nigerians are keenly watching!
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