Former minister of education Oby Ezekwesili has dared the Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas to get her prosecuted when the Counter Subversion Bill 2024 becomes law.
The bill, sponsored by Abbas, is set for its second reading where its general principles will be debated.
It stipulates penalties on Nigerians who fail to recite the national anthem which begins with ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee.’
The anthem was written by Lillian Jean Williams in 1959 and composed by Frances Berda. President Bola Tinubu returned Nigeria to the version in May.
Ezekwesili has insisted she would continue to sing the ‘Arise O Compatriots’ version.
According to the proposed legislation, anyone found guilty of refusing to recite the national anthem shall be fined N5 million, face a 10-year prison sentence or both.
It also proposed that anyone who destroys a national symbol or a place of worship shall be liable to the same punishment.
Ezekwesili said in an X post on Wednesday that the House is engaging in “irrelevancies while the country totters.”
“I am certain that the Speaker of the @HouseNGR @Speaker_Abbas @nassnigeria knows this for a fact,” she said.
“Surely, he must know that the so-called #CounterSubversionBill which he introduced- and alleged to be in its second reading – is a silly flight of fancy that further reveals how unserious and irrelevant the lawmakers are to the Nigerian condition.
“I for example have kept my public statement and only stand and sing the REAL Nigerian National Anthem (Arise O Compatriots), never the Colonial and ‘tribal’ one that he and his colleagues conspired with @NGRPresident and kangarooed into ‘law’ in violation of Constitutional processes.
“Get ready to ‘prosecute’ me when you pass your noxious #CounterSubversionBill into an Act.”
The ex-minister added, “But before then, please note that if there is any group of Nigerians that deserve a Subversion Act, it is you and your colleagues at the @nassnigeria who consistently subvert the progress of Nigeria and her people through your legendary public misdemeanors that accumulate into Bad Governance.”
