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 Nigerian Judges Conference, describing it as “an assault on our national dignity” and a troubling intrusion of partisanship into the judiciary.
Atiku said on Wednesday that he initially dismissed the footage—broadcast by Channels Television—as doctored.
Upon confirming its authenticity, he said he expected swift clarifications from either the Presidency or the Office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.
“Silence. Total, deafening silence,” he said, lamenting that neither office addressed how Tinubu’s personal campaign refrain was played in place of the National Anthem at the end of the CJN’s remarks.
He argued that the incident reflects what he described as a broader pattern under the current administration, one marked by institutional capture, shrinking democratic space, and erosion of safeguards designed to protect governance from partisan excess.
“On the very day President Tinubu lectured the judiciary on integrity and the rule of law, his partisan campaign music was played before the entire Nigerian judiciary. This is a shocking desecration of protocol, ethics, and national pride,” Atiku said.
He noted the irony in Tinubu’s warning to judges that “confidence is the lifeblood of justice,” insisting that public trust cannot survive when partisan propaganda infiltrates the judiciary’s highest gatherings.
The former Vice President described the substitution of the National Anthem with a political jingle as “reckless, scandalous, disgraceful, and deeply irresponsible.”
He warned that the incident risks aligning the judiciary with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), thereby undermining its independence and placing subtle pressure on judicial officers.
“How can judges dispense justice fearlessly when boundaries between state, party, and personal ambition are being eroded?” he asked.
Atiku stressed that judges are bound by oath to defend the Constitution and uphold the rule of law—not to stand “on the mandate” of any individual.
He called on judicial stakeholders, civil society organisations, and democracy advocates to “unequivocally condemn” the breach.
