Atiku Condemns ‘On Your Mandate’ Anthem at Judges’ Conference, Calls It Assault on National Dignity
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the playing of President Bola Tinubu’s campaign anthem, “On Your Mandate,” during the opening session of the 2025 All Nigeria Judges Conference, describing the incident as “an assault on national dignity” and evidence of what he called the administration’s tightening grip on state institutions, Njenje Media News reports.
Atiku, in a statement on Wednesday, said he initially dismissed the video clip — aired by Channels Television — as fake until it was confirmed to be authentic.
“What I saw was nothing short of an assault on our national dignity,” he said, accusing President Tinubu of allowing his “personal political anthem” to overshadow the National Anthem at the close of the Chief Justice’s address.
The former vice president criticised both the Presidency and the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for failing to provide any clarification.
“I waited for an explanation from the Presidency or the office of the CJN. Silence. Total, deafening silence,” he stated.
Atiku alleged that the episode fits into what he described as a broader pattern of the Tinubu administration’s “systematic capture of state institutions, crushing opposition voices, and steering Nigeria toward a de facto one-party state.”
He also noted that the playing of the partisan tune directly contradicted President Tinubu’s own remarks earlier at the conference about safeguarding judicial integrity.
“While preaching morality, his administration allowed (or engineered) the playing of his own partisan campaign music before the entire Nigerian judiciary,” he said, calling the act “reckless, scandalous, disgraceful, and deeply irresponsible.”
According to him, such acts risk nudging the judiciary into partisan alignment:
“This government is attempting to drag the judiciary into the partisan gutters of the APC. Judges owe loyalty exclusively to the Constitution and the rule of law.”
However, the National Judicial Institute (NJI) has refuted claims that judges participated in singing the anthem.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, NJI spokesperson Kolade Umoru described the reports as “entirely false and unfounded,” stressing that the only song taken collectively was the National Anthem, rendered at both the beginning and end of the ceremony.
Umoru explained that the brief rendition of “On Your Mandate” was performed solely by the Guards Brigade Band as part of standard military protocol while ushering the President to the podium.
“The judiciary had no control over the musical selections of the Brigade,” the NJI clarified.
— Njenje Media News
