SENATE President, Godswill Akpabio, has alleged that the introduction of the now proscribed national anthem, ‘Arise O Compatriots,’ in 1978 led to the emergence of banditry in Nigeria, indicating that Nigeria would not have experienced rising insecurity if the old national anthem was not changed.
Speaking during a visit to the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic studies in Abuja, Akpabio, while encouraging Nigerians to embrace the old national anthem, now the new national anthem, saying doing so could contribute to eradicating banditry in the country.
He said: “The other one of social impact is reverting to our old national anthem. A lot of people are not aware that there was a panel set up, made up of Nigerians to receive input from all over the world in 1959.
“When the people say we are bringing in the colonial anthem, we look into the history of ‘’the Nigeria we hail thee.’’ If we had kept to that national anthem, we probably would not have banditry in Nigeria. If you take your neighbour as your brother, you wouldn’t want to kill your brother or go into the farm and behead your brother.”
In May, President Bola Tinubu signed the Bill to reintroduce the old national anthem, originally adopted at Nigeria’s independence in 1960, which was replaced during the Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo regime.
