President of the Nigerian Senate, Godswill Akpabio, suggested that Nigeria is currently facing banditry due to the change in the national anthem from “Nigeria We Hail Thee” to “Arise O Compatriots.”
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The former governor of Akwa-Ibom made these remarks during his visit to the Nigeria Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja on Tuesday.
Remember that President Tinubu recently signed a bill into law that reinstates the old national anthem.
Akpabio argued that had Nigeria not discontinued the old-new anthem in 1978, its message could have potentially mitigated social issues such as banditry and insecurity.
“The other impactful bill signed by the National Assembly is the reverting to our old national anthem.
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“A lot of people are not aware that there was a panel set up and made up of Nigerians to receive input from all over the world in 1959.
“So when people are saying we’re bringing in colonial anthem, they need to look into the history of “Nigeria, we hail thee”.”
“If we had kept to that anthem, we probably would not have banditry today in Nigeria because if you take your neighbour as your brother, you will not want to kill him,” Akpabio said.
Sen. Godswill Akpabio says “Nigeria is experiencing Banditry today because the country’s anthem was changed in 1978”.🤣
Went ahead to say that the change in anthem has been one of the important legislations by the 10th Assembly.
The bar is really down.😭 pic.twitter.com/tHwDQnCJL1
— Thεό Abu (@TheoAbuAgada) June 18, 2024
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