UNILAG: Limits of presidential power

Let me start this with a confession. When I first heard the announcement that the University of Lagos had been named after Chief Moshood Abiola, I felt the President had taken a good decision, for once. I was as unprepared for the acrimony that followed as the President probably was. The only thing that I found wrong and indefensible (and I pointed it out to friends, especially alumni of the university who kicked against it) was that fiat is not allowed and is not to be encouraged in a democracy. The President may be the highest authority in the land, but he is not an absolute power wielder. He is guided in all actions by the Constitution and is checked by certain specified institutions. When a President turns himself to an emperor or a tin god, lesser authorities are likely to follow suit. This is why impunity reigns in the land at all levels.

Why would an elected President decree and declare like a military ruler who owes his office to the guns and ammunition that aided his seizure of power? Did it not occur to President Goodluck Jonathan and those who drafted that May 29 speech that there is a National Assembly whose duty it is to review, amend, repeal and make laws? Why did he think he could just make a fundamental change to the University of Lagos Act without leaving room for the legislators to play their role? What made him and his advisers think the National Assembly members would only rubber stamp the decision? On this score, he erred and deserves to be corrected. 

However, I refuse to buy the arguments of many people who dismissed the renaming of the university as worthless and misplaced. First, I do not see any special right conferred on the students by the law. Except like every other citizen of Nigeria who should have a say in public policy decisions, I fail to see any justification for the protests by the students. The lecturers, alumni, legal luminaries and educationists could volunteer their opinions on the development, but it should be accepted that the naming or renaming of federal institutions lies with the executive and legislative arms of government. Had the President followed the due process, they would, in the course of advocacy, have submitted their positions, like other Nigerians who may feel interested, to the National Assembly.

I fail to see the merit in the submission that only institutions in Abuja are federal. I refuse to accept that institutions and agencies in the federal capital are more federal or national than those founded by the government in other parts of Nigeria. Specifically, I do not accept that renaming the University of Abuja after the late business mogul and politician would have been more appropriate than the choice of UNILAG. 

Was Abiola more of a patron of sports than he was supportive of education? I fail to see the logic in the submission. The airport in Abuja was named after the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Is there any record that he contributed to the development of the aviation industry? The airport in Kano, too, bears the name of the late Mallam Aminu Kano, just like the number one airport in Nigeria, the one located in Lagos, is Murtala Muhammed International Airport. 

It is illogical to argue that renaming UNILAG Moshood Abiola University of Lagos is unjust, unfair and reduces the man to a regional champion while he won a national mandate. On the other hand, the same people propagating the gospel have suggested that the University of Agriculture in Abeokuta would have been a more fitting recognition. 

Abuja is today the federal capital, but, before Abuja, there was Lagos. Lagos is to Nigeria what New York is the America. I believe that Lagos towers above Abuja in all materials particular.

Was Abiola just a sportsman? Was he just a politician? Was he a mere businessman? Did he just happen on the scene? The late Chief MKO Abiola was many things. He won that broad mandate because of his contributions over the years to the development of Nigeria. I align myself with the Abiola family that the honour done Abiola is appropriate, save the procedure adopted. It may not be enough. The man deserves a posthumous award of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic. The fact that UNILAG has been renamed does not stop the government from revisiting the debate on which is more fitting as Democracy Day: May 29 or June 12? June 12 is not all about Abiola; it is about the men and women who fought for restoration of democracy; who stood against the Abacha dictatorship.

Above all, I agree with Sister Hafsat Abiola-Costello that the best honour that could be accorded the Abiola memory is to institute a free and fair electoral system and set Nigeria as the symbol of credible elections in Africa.

But, I do not see why UNILAG or any other institution could not have been renamed. Agreed, when the University of Ife was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University, we had a military administration, but the fact that the institution remains as great as it was then is an apt response to the fear that the UNILAG brand would be lost by the renaming. Harvard was New College and it is greater today after it was renamed. I do not think rebranding any university in South Africa Nelson Mandela would do any injustice to the institution. In this debate, it would be unfair to lose sight of the substance while chasing shadows.