Mr President, Happy New Week. I write about the reversion to the country’s old national anthem. I was troubled by your assent to a hurriedly passed bill by the National Assembly in this regard. It left me wondering about who advises you on fundamental national issues.

Were you driven by an egoistic desire to take on an issue that requires a national consensus? Given the present lie of the state where poverty stalks and Nigerians are on the famished road, should the issue of an anthem be a national priority? Reverting to the old anthem coupled by colonialists to replace the one driven by nationalism is not the best way to mark your one year in office.

You have argued that the old anthem best captures Nigeria’s diversity, which is currently dysfunctional due to bad governance.

Indeed, there is a viral video dated October 2, 2022, where you gave vent to your fantasy in an interview with Seye Oyetade on the programme ‘Matters Of Heritage’ thus: “We must guard our democracy jealously…We have one Nigeria, and we should be proud of our heritage…It’s about service, it’s about diversity, it’s about commitment…If I had my way, I would bring back our old first national anthem. That described us much better.” Your reason can only appeal to the imagination of the Marines. Mr President, to call a spade a spade, you have committed a major political blunder.

A member of the National Assembly has also sought to justify the unjustifiable. Hon. Tahir Mongunu, chairman of the parliamentary committee, and an arrow-head of the notorious bill has rationalised the adoption of the old anthem. For him, it is very “apt, timely and important…It will undoubtedly inspire a zeal for patriotism and cooperation.

It will promote cultural heritage. Changing the national anthem will chart a path to greater unity”. Not enough.  The National Assembly further canvassed the idea that the reversion to the old anthem was recommended by the National Conference.

We know that the ‘long parliament’ lacks the guts, and would hide under the excuse that it was recommended by the National Conference. Is it not intriguing that of all the recommendations of the National Conference, it was only the anthem that was found consequential? Even more so, it bypassed all parliamentary procedures, no public hearing, and no nothing in its legislative business.

A little bit of his history. “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”, was written by Lillian Jean Williams in 1959 and composed by Frances Berda. It was a colonial hand-down that ought to be archived along with the name “Nigeria”, that Flora Shaw, Lord Lugard’s mistress, only accentuated because it had appeared in a book titled, “Life in the Niger, the journal of an African trade” by Cole William, a Liverpool trader, in 1862.

This was 35 years before Lady Shaw canonised it. A previous government, with a measure of solemnity, changed the colonial anthem in 1978 to “Arise, O Compatriots…” In so doing, the military ruler did not use fiat but threw it open to a contest, and five entries by P. O. Aderibigbe, John A. Ilechukwu, Eme Etim Akpan, Dr. Sota Omoigui, and B.A. Ogunnaike were shortlisted.

They provided the lyrics for the anthem set to music by Mr Benedict Odiase. The rationale was to promote unity after the civil war. The adoption inherently wiped away a colonial slur. Chimamanda Adichie, our daughter, captured the very essence of colonialism in a video interview on the subject of colonialism when she said, “Colonialism was a brutal and terrible dictatorship, resulted in countries that were never going to work”. Mr President, are you implying that Nigeria will not work under you?

Let me tell you Mr President, your action has delegitimised your administration a great deal. Nigerians may not sing, “Nigerian we hail thee” with you. Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili, a prominent Nigerian and former minister of education, has reportedly vowed never to sing it. She has only echoed the popular sentiment. I recall that in my days in the student movement, we rendered the old anthem to mock the country and its neo-colonial rulers.

Mr President, a friend wrote me from the United States to thank me for my contribution to nation-building, for my advice, given pro bono to you and your government. My response was: if Nigeria were to go down, let it not be said for lack of advice.

Mr President, be courageous, reverse yourself on this matter. Let “Arise O Compatriots” be. Otherwise, you may carry the mark of a neo-colonial stooge for life.