A political anthem, On Your Mandate We Shall Stand, rang out recently during the opening ceremony of the 2025 All Nigeria Judges Conference in Abuja, unsettling many who expected a strictly judicial atmosphere. Wale Igbintade considers the appropriateness of the moment and the obligation of political handlers to exercise better judgment in sacred democratic spaces.
There are moments in a nation’s public life that seem small on the surface, yet they speak so loudly that they cannot be ignored. One such moment unfolded at the opening ceremony of the 2025 All Nigeria Judges Conference in Abuja, a gathering meant to symbolise dignity, neutrality and the solemnity of the judicial calling.
Instead, as President Bola Tinubu approached the podium, the air filled with a familiar political tune: “On Your Mandate We Shall Stand.” A song that belongs to the heat of campaign rallies suddenly appeared in a hall filled with judges—custodians of impartiality, arbiters of disputes, guardians of our constitutional order.