“For every law, there must be a spirit to it. If we are asked what is the essence of this law, I would talk about history.

“What does this old national anthem represent? This history dates back to colonialism. We dropped it because we wanted an Anthem to remove us from colonialism. The old anthem was composed by foreigners,” he said.

Following the debate, the bill was put to vote by Deputy Speaker, Ben Kalu who presided over the session, however, the “nay” voices appeared louder, yet the presiding officer called the vote in favour of “ayes”.

This ruling generated complaints from lawmakers, however, the Deputy Speaker insisted on the ruling.

Amid the opposition, the Deputy Speaker rushed the motion through.