Labour Party's Senator Victor Umeh Defends Re-Adoption Of Old National Anthem

Labour Party Senator Victor Umeh Defends Adoption Of ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ As New National Anthem By Tinubu GovernmentLabour Party Senator, Victor Umeh, has defended the adoption of ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ as Nigeria’s national anthem by President Bola Tinubu’s Government.The Senator who appeared on an Arise News TV live programme monitored by SaharaReporters on Thursday morning argued that the country’s lawmakers were convinced that changing the national anthem was an issue of priority.He explained further that it was not the executive arm that sponsored the bill which led to the recent adoption of the anthem.He said, “As far as lawmaking is concerned, anything that we consider important, nobody can tell us not to legislate on it. We have power to legislate on it by the constitution.“Nobody has the right to tell us what to legislate on or what not to legislate on. And legislation has a process. We have a public hearing. I told you now on Monday that the Senate organised a public hearing and Mike Ozekhome attended. And having organised that public hearing, whether you attend or not, it is of no consequence.”SaharaReporters on Wednesday reported that President Tinubu had given his assent to the National Anthem Bill 2024, reverting the country to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”.The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, revealed this on Wednesday at a joint session of the National Assembly marking the Silver Jubilee of Nigeria’s 4th Republic.Akpabio said the sitting was primarily to launch the new national anthem, explaining that the President would not be making a speech because he had to leave to launch the Abuja metro line.This new enactment by the President has generated negative comments from Nigerians who said changing the anthem was not the country’s priority amid economic hardship and skyrocketing inflation rates.For instance, a former Minister of Education and co-convener of the #BringBackOurGirls movement, Dr Oby Ezekwesili said she would never sing the newly adopted national anthem.The Senate and the House of Representatives previously passed the bill at separate sittings.However, Ezekwesili in a statement posted on her X account on Wednesday, said she would continue to sing ‘Arise Oh Compatriots’.She asserted that no one can suppress her right to dissent an obnoxious “law” that is repugnant to all that is of good conscience in Nigeria.SaharaReportersThe Senator who appeared on an Arise News TV live programme monitored by SaharaReporters on Thursday morning argued that the country’s lawmakers were convinced that changing the national anthem was an issue of priority.