Wednesday, July 15, 2026

There would be no banditry if old national anthem wasn’t changed: Akpabio

“When the people say we are bringing in colonial anthem, we look into the history of the ‘Nigeria we hail thee.’’

• June 19, 2024
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio (Credit: Akwa Ibom state government)
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio (Credit: Akwa Ibom state government)

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has urged Nigerians to imbibe the newly reintroduced old national anthem for doing so will help to end banditry in the country.

He gave the advice on Tuesday when he visited the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies, in Abuja.

Mr Akpabio said that the country wouldn’t have experienced the menace if the old national anthem wasn’t changed in 1978.

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 to behead your brother.’’

Recall that President Bola Tinubu in May signed the bill to reintroduce the old national anthem which was first introduced during independence in 1960 before the Olusegun Obasanjo military administration replaced it with the proscribed ”Arise, O Compatriots.”

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Adebo Ogundoyin

States

School Abduction: Oyo Assembly backs Gov Makinde’s call for international investigation 

The lawmaker cautioned the public and the Nigerian Senate against misinterpreting the purpose of the state governor’s call for an international investigation.

Minister of Foriegn Affairs Yusuf Tuggar

Politics

Tuggar group rejects Bauchi APC governorship candidate Mohammed Abubakar

He dismissed Mr Abubakar’s declaration as a governorship candidate, alleging that there were no governorship primaries in the state.

The Spanish team after the semi-final match

Hot news Home top

Oyarzabal, Porro score as Spain beat France to reach World Cup final 

Spain will face the winner of the second semi-final match between England and Argentina on Sunday. 

PenCom

Economy

PenCom cuts pension approvals to 48 hours, recovers N36 billion arrears

She said the 48-hour approval timeline had become a mandatory service standard binding on all PFAs.

Released Oyo hostages

Heading 5

Freed Oyo pupils, teachers reunite with families

The pupils and teachers reunited with their families on Tuesday.

Olatubosun Oluyede

NationWide

DHQ engages military veterans on welfare, national service

He said the welfare of retired personnel remained one of the top priorities of the DHQ under the current leadership.