Aisha Yesufu also accused Keyamo of watching while the President Bola Tinubu-led government desecrated the old national anthem.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Human rights activist and chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Aisha Yesufu, has slammed the 48-hour ultimatum issued to the party’s national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, urging him to remain mum.
She gave the advice to the NDC leader on Saturday, 14 November, in a post she shared on her official X (formerly Twitter) page.
Earlier, Keyamo, in a statement, challenged Dickson to explain why members and supporters of the NDC opted for the old national anthem during a recent town hall meeting in Lagos State.
The minister, who condemned the development, asked the former Bayelsa State governor to tell Nigerians within 48 hours whether the party officially endorses the use of a proscribed anthem as its national symbol.
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Keyamo said: “A national anthem is one of a country’s national symbols. It represents a country’s history, values, and sovereignty. It is meant to unite citizens.”
The minister added: “I am therefore officially calling on the original ‘Countryman’, my classmate, my friend, and a man of considerable courage from our school days, Senator Seriake Dickson, the official leader of the NDC, to speak up within 48 hours as to whether the NDC officially endorses a proscribed anthem as its own national symbol. The world is waiting.”
Reacting to the ultimatum, Yesufu said Dickson would disappoint his people if he responded to Keyamo’s challenge.
She argued that the ancestors of the South-South region would be disappointed if the NDC leader chose to answer the minister.
She accused Keyamo of watching while the current administration desecrated the old national anthem.
According to her, if the NDC leader responds, “then he fall hand. Proper falling! Our South-South ancestry go cry for their graves,” she wrote.
