The Lagos State governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Funso Doherty, on Friday described the singing of Nigeria’s former national anthem at a party town hall meeting as a spontaneous reaction by the crowd, insisting the official anthem was eventually performed.
Speaking on Nigeria Info 99.3FM, Doherty said organisers could not control the large gathering’s emotional response during the event attended by NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi.
“Well, the point to be made is that if you watched that show, you will see that the new national anthem was actually sung after that initial singing of the old national anthem, and what happened was it was a spontaneous thing by the crowd,” he said.
He added that Nigeria has only one national anthem and that it was ultimately sung. “Obviously, the national anthem is the national anthem. We only have one national anthem, and ultimately that was what we sang,” Doherty said.
The comments followed Thursday’s incident at the NDC town hall in Lagos, where Obi and other attendees reportedly declined to stand when invited to sing the current national anthem. The event anchor then switched to the former anthem, “Arise, O Compatriots”, which Obi, Doherty and supporters sang.
Nigeria officially reverted to its former anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”, in May 2024, replacing “Arise, O Compatriots”, which had been in use since 1978.
