President Bola Tinubu and members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) have stirred reactions after they were heard reciting the old Nigerian national anthem during Monday’s cabinet meeting, despite the official restoration of the former anthem in 2024.
A video from the meeting, which has since gone viral on social media, showed the President and his ministers reciting “Arise, O Compatriots” instead of “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” the anthem reinstated by the Federal Government in May 2024.
President Tinubu had signed the National Anthem Bill 2024 into law on May 29, 2024, replacing the 1978 anthem with “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” the country’s original national anthem first used at independence in 1960.
The incident has triggered widespread reactions online, with many Nigerians questioning why the old anthem was used during an official FEC meeting more than a year after the policy change.
The Presidency has yet to explain why “Arise, O Compatriots” was recited at the meeting.
Even the people that changed Nigeria’s national anthem have forgotten they did.
This is what happens when emotional decisions are made.
C’est dommage. pic.twitter.com/8JNPeJmS59
— @𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝘆 (@OneJoblessBoy) July 7, 2026
