Judges deny endorsing Tinubu's anthem
...as Atiku accuses Tinubu of coercing Judges into political alignment
The National Judicial Institute (NJI) has denied endorsing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s campaign song, “On Your Mandate,” during the opening session of the 2025 All Nigerian Judges Conference on Monday.
The controversy erupted after video clips, confirmed to be authentic, showed the partisan jingle played at the event attended by the entire Nigerian judiciary and the President.
Responding on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, the National Judicial Institute (NJI) released a statement titled "RE: FALSE REPORTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA REGARDING THE OPENING CEREMONY," offering a detailed rebuttal to the claims.
The NJI labeled the reports particularly the suggestion that judges sang a political chorus in allegiance as “entirely false, unfounded, and does not reflect the events that transpired.”
The NJI insisted that the National Anthem was the only song rendered collectively by all participants at both the commencement and conclusion of the Opening Ceremony.
They also confirmed that no judge in attendance sang or chanted any political song at any point.
"The brief rendition of the tune ‘On Your Mandate’” was not initiated, requested, or endorsed by the Judiciary. It was played solely by the Guards Brigade Band as part of their ceremonial protocol to usher the President to the podium for his address," the statement noted with the Judges clarifying that
“no control over the musical selections of the Brigade, which operates under military ceremonial procedures.”
The statement concluded by reaffirming that the Judiciary “remains strictly non-partisan, deeply committed to constitutional neutrality, and wholly insulated from political activities or symbols of political allegiance.”
Reacting, former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has issued a sharp condemnation of the Tinubu administration after a political campaign song, “On Your Mandate,” was reportedly played in place of the National Anthem at the close of the 2025 All Nigerian Judges Conference opening session on Monday.
In a statement released yesterday, Atiku Abubakar described the act as an "assault on our national dignity" and a "shocking desecration of protocol, ethics, and national pride."
He asserted that the incident was not a technical mistake but rather a systemic warning sign.
“Replacing the National Anthem with Tinubu’s ‘On Your Mandate’ in a hall full of judges is reckless, scandalous, disgraceful, and deeply irresponsible,” the former Vice President stated, arguing that the episode was “the most blatant signal yet that this government is attempting to drag the judiciary into the partisan gutters of the APC, if not coerce a wholesale ‘defection’ of Nigerian judges into political alignment.”
Atiku’s critique highlighted the irony that the protocol breach occurred on the same day President Bola Tinubu addressed the conference, stressing the crucial importance of judicial integrity.
The President had used the platform to sermonize on the need for the judiciary to safeguard public confidence, stating that "confidence is the lifeblood of justice."
Abubakar contrasted this presidential counsel with the administration's alleged actions: “Yet, while preaching morality, his administration allowed (or engineered) the playing of his own partisan campaign music before the entire Nigerian judiciary.”
He concluded by stressing the constitutional duty of judicial officers: “Nigerian judges swore an oath to defend the Constitution, justice, and the rule of law, not to stand ‘on the mandate’ of Bola Ahmed Tinubu or any other individual. This affront must be condemned by all who still believe in constitutional democracy.”