THE NATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2012
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NEWS
Mixed reactions trail naming of UNILAG after Abiola •Students take to the streets
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•Acting Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (right), Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos branch Mr. Taiwo Taiwo and his colleague Hannibal Uwaifo during their visit to Asiwaju in his Ikoyi, Lagos home… yesterday
•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (middle) cutting the tape to open the Lagos Traffic Radio (96.1FM)...yesterday. With him are his deputy, Mrs Orelope Adefulire (right), former Lagos State Governor Alhaji Lateef Jakande (second right), former Military Governor of Lagos Sir Mobolaji Johnson (second left) and his wife Obafunmilayo PHOTO:OMOSEHIN MOSES
•Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed (middle) , Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly Hon. Razak Atunwa and Board Chairman, International Aviation College, Ilorin, Capt. Edward Boyo during the flag-off of SP I Pilot Training Progamme... on Monday
•Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa (second right) cutting the tape to open the Northern Noodle Limited in Kaduna...yesterday. With him are Managing Director of the company Mr Haresh Aswani (right), Yakowa’s wife Amina, the Sa-Gbagyi 1 of Gbagyi Kingdom, Dr Danjuma Barde (second left)
IXED reactions yesterday greeted President Goodluck Jonathan’s renaming of the University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University. While some respondents supported the idea, others saw it as unnecessary. The president in his broadcast to the nation to mark Democracy Day and one year of his administration named the university after the late Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential poll. Students of UNILAG took to major streets around the university in protest against the change of name. Some of the students, who spoke to NAN, said their action was informed by the sudden change of name of the institution by the Federal Government, adding that “it is ill timed and unacceptable’’. Mr Muritala Adura, a 400 level student of the Faculty of Political Science said that the decision would be resisted as there was no such plan in place by the founding fathers of the university to change the name. Adura said that the change of name was uncalled for, especially at a time when the entire university was in a mourning mood. Miss Chidinma Okafor, a second year student of the Faculty of Education, pleaded with the Federal Government to reconsider reversing its decision so as to maintain the stability and peace that have been existing in the university. Okafor said that the change of name ought to have been given a serious thought going by the fact that it would truncate a lot of developmental issues that were in the pipeline. “There are some corporate organisations that had partnered with the institution locally and internationally and must have had a lot of documents and other things printed in the name of unilag. “How do such people start all over again to change to the new name. “The name Moshood Abiola University is not even attractive and in the real sense most of us are protesting because our certificates on graduation will not bear that name University of Lagos. “And which has been the dream of most of the undergraduates,’’ she said Another student, Joseph Ezekiel, said that he was not against the decision by the Federal Government to immortalise or recognise heroes who toiled for democracy in the country. He said that the Federal Government should have considered university’s antecedent and what it stood for. “We are not against government’s decision to honour anyone who deserved to be honoured but what we are saying is that the name of the university, which is almost a household name in the entire continent and beyond cannot just disappear. “There are other Federal Government institutions scattered all around the country that could be used for such purpose without raising much argument, especially if it is not as popular as the University of Lagos. “You can see the magnitude of violence that this singular pronouncement has caused and if care is not taken could lead to something else if nothing is done about it immediately. The Protesting students took to the streets, barricading major highways.
By Joke Kujenya and Precious Igbonwelundu
They gathered at Oyingbo, Yaba, Sabo, Akoka and Fadeyi on the Ikorodu road, blocking the highways. Traffic was brought to a standstill, with a few vehicles plying the roads. Armed police were stationed at Akoka, a few metres from the campus, but they kept their distance from the irate students. The acting president of the students union, Mr Idowu Odumose, described the name change as an act of injustice. “It is an injustice to the institution. The change cannot be done unilaterally without amending the act setting up the university.’’ Mr Alli Sanni, the Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Lagos State Chapter, said the change was announced without consultation with the students and other stakeholders. “It is shocking to wake up to find out that the school’s identity has been changed. “The government should have renamed one of the new federal universities after Abiola,’’ he said. Professor of Law, Mr. Taiwo Osipitan(SAN), Promoter, Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER), MR. Ayo Opadokun, Trade Unionist, Mr. Frank Kokori and Former Executive Director, Civil Liberties Organisation, (CLO) Mr. Abdul Oroh, commended Jonathan for his good intention. Osipitan said: “I must commend the President for remembering to honour Abiola, but the President should know that the only way University of Lagos can be renamed is through the National Assembly because it is an institution that is established by law and the National Assembly will have to amend the law establishing the university. “If the president really wants to honour Abiola, he should have thought of naming one of the new federal universities after him because UNILAG is a very cosmopolitan institution with local and international image,” he said. Opadokun commended the president for the belated recognition bestowed on Abiola, even as he queried the process that led to the pronouncement. “I think that the thought or process that led to the pronouncement is questionable, faulty and not fully considered.” Opadokun said. Kokori said renaming UNILAG was not the peoples’ priority at the moment, although he expressed appreciation to the president for honouring Abiola. “I am happy, even though it is not the peoples’ priority for now. I won’t talk further,” he said. Oroh noted that Abiola while he was alive, contributed financially to support many Nigerian universities in their trying times, adding that he died in the struggle for democracy. “MKO was denied an election that was acclaimed the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria. In his struggle for democracy, he was imprisoned after which he died on the eve of reclaiming his mandate. So, there is nothing wrong with the president honouring him by renaming UNILAG after him. Havard was University in the United Sates, was New College but renamed after John Harvard.