Protests as FG renames UNILAG after Abiola

Anger and protest on Tuesday greeted the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to rename the 50-year-old University of Lagos after the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

The renaming of UNILAG, now Moshood Abiola University, Lagos, after the late business mogul, came 14 years after the citizens hadAbiola’s clamoured for the recognition of his place in the democratic journey of the country.

But few minutes after Jonathan announced the renaming of the institution in his Democracy Day speech, students of the university trooped onto the streets in protest of the new name though they made it clear that they had nothing against the person of the late Abiola.

They described the renaming as “provocative and unpopular.”

Abiola’s daughters

But the Abiola family hailed the government for renaming UNILAG after their dead patriarch.

Abiola’s first child, Lola Abiola-Edewor; and Hafsat Abiola-Costello, said that the Federal Government should be commended for recognising the contribution of the late politician to the return of democracy in Nigeria.

Abiola-Edewor, a two-term member of the House of Representatives, condemned the protest by some UNILAG students against the decision by the Federal Government to name the institution after her late father.

The university, known more by its acronym, UNILAG, was established in 1962 by an Act of Parliament.

Against democratic norms

The National President, UNILAG Alumni Association, Prof. Olayide Abass; a former Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe; all the workers’ unions, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, faulted the decision which they described as “illegal, provocative, absolutely incongruous and antithetical to democratic norms.”

The alumni association threatened to drag Jonathan and the Federal Government to court over the name change.

Abass said the President did not have the power to change the name of the university, which he said was created by an Act of Parliament.

“It’s either the President does not have a sense of history or that those who are his advisers are not in tune with the nation’s law. UNILAG is the first federal university in the country that was created by an Act of Parliament, so if he wants to change the name, he should go back to the National Assembly and press for the amendment of the university law. He is not a lawmaker and so does not have such power,” he said.

He advised the President to stop acting like a military leader in a democratic dispensation, adding if Abiola must be immortalised, UNILAG, which he said, had become a brand name globally, should not be demeaned.

Abass also faulted the decision, saying it came at a time the university was mourning its late VC, Prof. Tokunbo Sofoluwe, and was planning its golden jubilee.

Also, Ibidapo-Obe wondered why the President did not consult stakeholders before he made the ‘’totally unacceptable” decision.

“It is absolutely incongruous, totally unacceptable and antithetically opposed to democracy that he (President) preaches. Decisions in democracy are made through consultations that is why politicians arrive at all -inclusive decisions but in this case, the President did not consult anybody in UNILAG before he foists this on us.

“It is a deceitful decision made to satisfy people who are not happy with him in the South-West. We are not happy with the decision and that is why the students spontaneously went on the streets to protest it,” he said.

New name at age 50?

He added that it was wrong for the President to change the name of the institution when it was mourning its late VC and planning to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“Have you ever seen a man who changes his name while celebrating his 50th birthday? This is totally wrong,” Ibidapo-Obe queried.

When reminded that the Federal Government had done a similar thing when it changed the name of the then University of Ife, to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ibidapo-Obe said the two institutions should not be compared.

“That argument cannot stand because Ife was a regional university started by the late Obafemi Awolowo and don’t forget that it was the military that did it without recourse to the law. But UNILAG is a creation of the law and its name can only be changed through the law, not by any presidential fiat,” he said.

He added that good universities all over the world, including UNILAG, were brands whose names should not be changed at will.

On the street

Also, the students who carried various placards with inscriptions such as: “This is not the change youths want,” “Jona has no shoes we gave him bata”, “We remain UNILAG” and “Jonathan, reverse this decision immediately,” barricaded the main gate of the university thus preventing people from coming in or going out of the campus.

From there they trooped to Abule-Oja and the university campus environs, singing anti-Jonathan songs. Consequently, vehicular movement was hampered while commuters were forced to place leaves on their vehicles as a sign of solidarity with the students.

They also blocked the Yaba end of the Murtala Muhammed Way for over thirty minutes.

The Lagos State Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations, Mr. Tunde Sobulo, who led policemen who monitored the students’ protest made a strong appeal to them before they allowed a free flow of traffic about 12:33pm.

Some of them, who spoke with our correspondents, said that the decision was not well-thought out.

“If this decision is not reversed, it will affect the image and global ranking of the university. When this happens, all of us, past and present students, will suffer,” Mr. James Mgurujwen, a 400-Level student in the faculty of education said.

Another student, who simply identified himself as Stephen, said though he did not see anything wrong in immortalising Abiola, UNILAG should not be sacrificed for this purpose.

“I did not know Abiola. I was in primary one in 1993 but my dad told me he loved football and had a football club. If that is true the President should have named the National Stadium after him instead of our university,” the 200-Level student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences said.

Taiwo Rowaiye, a 400-level student, said it was unfortunate that the president could change the name of the university and close his eyes to the pitiable conditions in which they learn.

He said, “Its clear that we don’t have a caring president. Instead of making teaching and learning convenient for us he is renaming the university.

“There is epileptic supply of electricity to the university campus. Just yesterday(Monday) we only had two hours of power supply.

“Our hostels are in despicable conditions and we often times attend classes without taking our bath all because their is no electricity to pump water.

“Besides, our classrooms are overcrowded and we take lectures in suffocating classrooms and all he could do to better our lot is to rename our university.”

Unions fume

The Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, UNILAG Chapter, Mr. Adetola Adetomiwa; the Chairman, Non-Academic Staff Union, Mr. Ganiyu Oseni; and the ASUU Chairman, Dr. Ogbinaka Oghenekaro, also faulted the sudden name change. They described it as misguided and unthinkable.

Adetomiwa said, “His (Jonathan) decision to change the name of UNILAG, a national institution, is misguided. It shows that his advisers do not like him. If he desires to come back for re-election in 2015, he should reverse the decision immediately, otherwise we will mobilise against his political ambition.”

Oseni said that all the workers’ unions on the campus would meet after the burial of Sofoluwe on Thursday (tomorrow) to determine the next line of action that would be taken in ensuring that the decision was reversed.

“But I can tell you that this unthinkable decision will not stand,” he said.

Oseni added that Jonathan’s advisers ought to have advised him to name the Democracy Day after Abiola if truly they believed that he was the martyr of democracy.

MKO Abiola

Abiola, an accountant, politician, businessman and philanthropist, died on July 7, 1998, in the custody of the Federal Government, four years after he had been arrested and detained by the late dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. Abiola was arrested for daring to declare himself President-elect after winning the 1993 poll later annulled by Abacha’s predecessor, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

The annulment and the death of Abiola enraged the citizens. Ditto the government’s continued refusal to acknowledge the place of Abiola in the nation’s democracy.

Both former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, a kinsman of Abiola from Ogun State; and the late President Umaru Yar’Adua had ignored calls for the immortalisation of the late businessman who contested the 1993 poll on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party.