Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the playing of President Bola Tinubu’s campaign anthem, “On Your Mandate,” at the opening of the 2025 All Nigeria Judges Conference.

He described the incident as an “assault on national dignity” and proof of what he called the administration’s capture of state institutions.

In a statement on Wednesday, Atiku said he initially dismissed the clip — which aired on Channels Television — as fake until it was confirmed to be authentic.

“What I saw was nothing short of an assault on our national dignity,” he said, adding President Tinubu allowed his “personal political anthem” to replace the National Anthem at the end of the Chief Justice’s address.

Atiku criticised the Presidency and the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for failing to offer any explanation.

“I waited for an explanation from the Presidency or the office of the CJN. Silence. Total, deafening silence,” he stated.

The former vice president said the incident fits into what he described as the Tinubu administration’s systematic weakening of democratic institutions.

“The Tinubu-led APC government has consistently pursued a systematic capture of state institutions, crushing opposition voices, and steering Nigeria toward a de facto one-party state,” Atiku alleged.

He argued that the playing of the tune at a judicial gathering undermined President Tinubu’s own remarks at the event on protecting judicial integrity.

On Monday, I was sent a video clip from Channels TV’s coverage of the opening session of the 2025 All Nigerian Judges Conference. What I saw was nothing short of an assault on our national dignity: “On Your Mandate,” President Tinubu’s personal political anthem, was brazenly… pic.twitter.com/fMWqafehaR

— Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) November 19, 2025

“While preaching morality, his administration allowed (or engineered) the playing of his own partisan campaign music before the entire Nigerian judiciary,” he said, calling it “reckless, scandalous, disgraceful, and deeply irresponsible.”

“This government is attempting to drag the judiciary into the partisan gutters of the APC,” he said, adding that judges owe loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law, not to any political figure.

However, the National Judicial Institute (NJI) has rejected claims that judges participated in singing the anthem.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, NJI spokesperson Kolade Umoru described the reports as “entirely false and unfounded.”

He said the only song rendered collectively was the National Anthem, taken at both the beginning and end of the ceremony.

According to him, the brief playing of “On Your Mandate” came solely from the Guards Brigade Band, which acted under military protocol while ushering the President to the podium.

“The judiciary had no control over the musical selections of the Brigade,” the NJI clarified. (Vanguard)