Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday condemned what he described as a “brazen desecration of national ethics” following the playing of President Bola Tinubu’s campaign anthem, “On Your Mandate,” at the opening session of the 2025 All Nigerian Judges Conference in Abuja.
A video aired by Channels Television had shown the political song being played at the end of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun’s address — an act Atiku said amounted to “an assault on national dignity.”
In a statement issued in Abuja, the 2023 PDP presidential candidate said he initially dismissed the clip as a deepfake, only to later confirm it as an authentic recording of events at the judiciary’s foremost gathering.
He faulted both the Presidency and the office of the Chief Justice for maintaining what he called “total, deafening silence” since the incident became public.
Atiku argued that the episode was consistent with what he described as the Tinubu administration’s pattern of “systematic capture of state institutions” and the shrinking of democratic space.
He noted the irony of the incident occurring on a day the President addressed Nigerian judges on the importance of integrity and public confidence in judicial processes.
“Yet, while preaching morality, his administration allowed — or engineered — the playing of his partisan campaign music before the entire Nigerian judiciary,” Atiku said, adding that the act represented “a shocking desecration of protocol, ethics, and national pride.”
The former vice-president declared the replacement of the National Anthem with a political song at a judicial forum as “reckless, scandalous, disgraceful, and deeply irresponsible.”
He warned that such actions risk drawing the judiciary into partisan politics and undermining its independence.
“How can judges dispense justice fearlessly when Tinubu’s operatives are eroding the boundaries between state, party, and personal ambition?” he queried.
Atiku reminded judicial officers of their oath to defend the Constitution, insisting that their loyalty must remain to the rule of law, not to “the mandate of any individual.”
He urged Nigerians and institutional stakeholders to speak out in defence of democratic values, describing the incident as a troubling sign for the country’s constitutional order.
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