The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Seriake Dickson, demanding an official clarification on whether the opposition party endorses Nigeria’s former national anthem, “Arise, O Compatriots.”
Keyamo issued the challenge on Saturday, November 14, 2026, via his official X (formerly Twitter) account, following a viral incident at an NDC town hall meeting held at the Classique Event Place in Oregun, Alausa, Lagos State, on Thursday, November 12, 2026.
During the gathering, which had earlier experienced a disruption by suspected hoodlums around 11:00 a.m. supporters and party figures, including the NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, were seen singing the discarded anthem while flashing the party’s two-finger salute.
In his statement on Saturday, Keyamo warned that deliberately adopting an alternative anthem in defiance of the one prescribed by Nigerian law carries grave constitutional implications and could be construed as laying the groundwork for secession.
”A National Anthem is one of a country’s national symbols. It represents a country’s history, values and sovereignty. It is meant to unite citizens,” Keyamo wrote. “And once the leader of such a group endorses the action, it means the group is then officially a secessionist movement.”
Addressing Dickson directly as his former law school classmate and friend, the aviation minister challenged the former Bayelsa State governor to publicly distance the party from the incident or confirm its adoption.
”I am therefore officially calling on the original ‘Countryman’, my classmate, my friend and a man of considerable courage from our school days, Senator Seriake Dickson, the official leader of the NDC, to within 48 hours speak up as to whether the NDC officially endorses a proscribed anthem as its own national symbol. The world is waiting,” Keyamo stated.
Prior to his Saturday post, Keyamo had appeared on a radio interview on Eagle 102.5 FM on Friday, November 13, 2026, where he criticized Obi and other NDC members for allegedly disrespecting national symbols and the office of the President.
While acknowledging during the broadcast that the current law prescribes no specific criminal penalty for singing the old anthem, Keyamo maintained that voters must judge whether political leaders who disregard national symbols are fit to lead.
The controversy has triggered sharp exchanges between ruling party officials and representatives of the NDC. On Friday, November 13, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, speaking at a Rainbow Coalition stakeholders’ town hall in Ogu-Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State, accused Obi of lawlessness and lacking faith in Nigeria over the rendition.
In response, the NDC pushed back through its party officials. In a statement released on Friday evening at 9:21 p.m. by the NDC National Campaign Council spokesperson, Dr. Constance (Chiogo) Ikokwu, the party insisted that the singing of “Arise, O Compatriots” was neither scripted nor orchestrated by Obi or the party leadership.
Ikokwu explained that the crowd sang the former anthem spontaneously in an emotional moment before subsequently singing the officially recognized anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.”
”Minister Wike should stop distracting Nigerians from the gargantuan failures of the government he’s trying very hard to sell. We need to focus on the issues that matter to Nigerians in this election… the economy, and the crippling hardship inflicted by the APC government,” Ikokwu stated.
Similarly, the NDC Lagos State governorship candidate, Funso Doherty, corroborated the party’s position on Friday, clarifying that the rendition was an impromptu reaction by attendees and affirming that the NDC recognizes only Nigeria’s legally established national anthem.
Nigeria officially reverted to “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”, the country’s original anthem at independence in 1960, on May 29, 2024, after President Bola Tinubu signed the National Anthem Bill into law, replacing “Arise, O Compatriots,” which had been in use since 1978. As of Saturday evening, Senator Seriake Dickson had yet to issue a formal response to Keyamo’s 48-hour deadline.
