The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has criticised the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his supporters for defying national symbols.
Naija News reports that Keyamo’s comments followed the controversy over some NDC supporters’ refusal, including Peter Obi, to sing the newly adopted national anthem at the party’s town hall meeting in Lagos on Thursday.
In a viral video online, Peter Obi, alongside the party’s Lagos governorship candidate, Funso Doherty, and other attendees, sang the ‘Arise O Compatriots’, which was replaced with ‘Nigeria We Hail Thee’.
Reacting to the development during an interview on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Keyamo said it was a disrespect to the law and the office of the presidency which the party is seeking.
Keyamo said Nigerians would decide whether the conduct demonstrated the level of responsibility and maturity expected of those seeking political leadership.
The minister said while some Nigerians might applaud the action as political defiance, the party could lose the support of voters he described as cerebral and moderate.
He said, “Like they say of APC, they say it’s only mad men that will vote for APC. So let me return the campaign slogan, it’s only irresponsible people that will vote for that type of party called NDC that defy national symbols, it’s only irresponsible that will vote for them.
“For me, it is left for the Nigerian people to decide whether these human beings you have now seen disregarding national symbols, disrespecting the law and disrespecting the office of the president that they so crave whether they are responsible enough to aspire to that office.
“They have lost the cerebral and the in-betweens. They have lost them by that action. Maybe those who are downright irresponsible, they will hail them and they will vote for them. But we’ll see on election day how many Nigerians are irresponsible.”
When asked whether singing the old national anthem violated the law, Keyamo clarified that he was unaware of any specific legal penalty attached to the action.
He explained that although the current national anthem had been adopted by law, the absence of a prescribed penalty meant the action did not automatically constitute a punishable offence.
He added, “There’s no penalty that is prescribed by law. No penalty. The law just says this is our new national anthem and then you should think we should all abide by it. It becomes a crime when there’s a penalty attached to it.”
