[The Conversation Africa] A year into his administration, Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the National Anthem Bill into law, replacing an anthem adopted in 1978 with its predecessor. The decision generated debate among Nigerians, some of whom felt it did not rank on the list of social, economic and security challenges confronting the country. Samuel Oyewole, a political scientist, says it is a "distract and rule" tactic, which he described in his published research as serving the political elite's goal of a democracy