Nigeria’s Anthems of Division and the Promise of Democratic Feminist Nationalism

I was compelled, along with many Nigerians, to read this shift within the broader context of post-independence nation-building. After all, why would we divest from an anthem that acknowledged ‘the labour of our heroes past’ and affirmed unity ‘bound in freedom, peace and unity’? ‘Arise, O Compatriots’ signalled a bold statement to defend the sovereignty of a nation free from colonial rule. It signalled an affirmed love that bound ethnic groups, which the violence of colonial geographies had bound together, but in this instance, they chose to establish their unity on their own terms. This is a generous reading of the content of the anthem; however, it was adopted in 1978 by the military dictatorship led by Olusegun Obasanjo. This change also reflected a hyper-masculinized military government’s desire to create new national symbols, building on hyperpatriotic post-independence nation-building efforts, where decolonization, if not an explicit statement of democracy and equality across gender, class and more, was at least a divestment from colonial-era symbols. President Tinubu’s return to the old anthem, written by British expatriate Lillian Jean Williams to commemorate Nigeria’s independence from British rule, is attributed to many things, including colonial nostalgia. I attempt here to offer us an alternative reading of this change.