Kudos,Knocks Trail Renaming Of UNILAG As Students Pour Into The Streets

 

THE University of Lagos (UNILAG) community has vehemently opposed the renaming of the institution after the acclaimed winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kasimawo Abiola, by the Federal Government.
The community, which includes the students, the academic staff union of the institution and the non-academic staff union, expressed its displeasure over the national address of President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday that UNILAG would now be called Moshood Abiola University, Lagos.
President Jonathan, in the broadcast, on Tuesday, rationalised the decision by stressing the need to strengthen the nation’s collective memory, draw from strength from its history and build bridges of unity to take the country to greater heights.
According to him, “it is also in this regard that the Federal Government has decided that the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola be honoured, for making the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of justice and truth. Destiny and circumstances conspired to place upon his shoulders a historic burden, and he rose to the occasion with character and courage.
“He deserves recognition for his martyrdom, and public-spiritedness and for being the man of history that he was. We need in our land more men and women who will stand up to defend their beliefs and whose example will further enrich our democracy.
“After very careful consideration, and in honour of Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s accomplishments and heroism, on this Democracy Day, the University of Lagos, is renamed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Moshood Abiola University, Lagos by the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
But the protesting students, who stormed the Lagos-Ikorodu Expressway early in the morning, caused heavy vehicular traffic on the major routes in Lagos as they barricaded the roads to protest the decision of the government.
Despite the recent dissolution of the university’s students union, the students mobilised themselves and walked from the campus at Akoka to Jibowu area of Lagos, where they gathered to demonstrate their discontent.
According to their spokesman, the former Public Relations Officer for the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Mr Usman Oloyede, the re-naming of UNILAG at this time that the institution was mourning the death of its vice chancellor, Professor Adetokunbo Sofoluwe, was inhuman.
He explained that the University of Lagos was a brand name that had attracted many candidates and academics, adding that government could not have changed the name without prior consultation with the students and other university community before taking the decision.
Oloyede, who is also the Mobilisation Officer for Education Rights Campaign, South-West, said that the protest would continue until the government rescinds its decision.
He said: “We are not saying that the late Chief MKO Abiola should not be immortalised, but UNILAG is not the appropriate representation of the late business mogul, who was more popular in the area of sports than education.”
Speaking in the same vein, the chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Lagos chapter, Dr Karo Ogbinaka, said that President Jonathan had re-named the university to gain cheap popularity, calling on him to rename University of Abuja after Abiola if he wanted to score a mark.
He said: “We are here to tell him that UNILAG community hates what he has done and will ensure that this decision is reverted. How can somebody just wake up and rename a university without any consultation with the university community. He should go and rename University of Port Harcourt, but not the University of Lagos.”
On immortalising the late politician, Ogbinaka said that the academics were not against naming any government property after MKO but added that the University of Lagos was too small compared to the status and the price the late business mogul paid for democracy.
“The Minister of Education, Professor Ruquayat Rufa’i, was here. She did not discuss anything with us. She colluded with government and took decision. It’s quite bad.”
In his comment, the Head of Department of Mass Communication, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye described the government’s decision as a political miscalculation that had surfaced at the time the university was still mourning the death of his vice chancellor.
He noted that late Abiola was more prominent in the area of sports, suggesting that the National Stadium, Lagos could have been named after him instead of the University of Lagos.
He said: “University of Lagos tells a name and history and should not just be changed for political gains. We are sad in this university with what the government has done to us. At this period that we are mourning our late VC, I don’t think we deserve this. We are supposed to have service of songs for the late VC today but the government compounds our problems.”
Akinfeleye explained that renaming University of Lagos after Abiola was like debasing the status of the man who died for democracy in the country, saying, “Abiola was a national figure but not a regional personality. In fact, he was the pillar of sports in Africa. Why not consider the National Stadium to immortalise him instead of UNILAG?”
However, some members of the university community disclosed that they would not attend the service of songs in honour of the deceased vice chancellor, following the blockade laid by the students at the university gate.
A member of staff of the university who refused to mention his name told Nigerian Tribune that he would have loved to go for the service of songs but the new development and the students’ protest would not allow him to be there.
He said, “I’m not ready to die young. I cannot allow students to break my head with wood and stones.”
In addition to this, he said the government would also establish an Institute of Democratic Studies and Governance in the university.
The president recalled that when General Abdul-salami Abubakar handed over the baton of authority to President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 1999, it was a turning point for Nigeria, but added that Nigeria did not arrive at that turning point by accident.
He pointed out that many Nigerians laid down their lives for the transition to democracy to occur, while others were jailed and media houses were attacked and shut down, whereas the people’s resolve remained firm and unshakeable.
“The greatest tribute that we can pay to him and other departed heroes of Nigeria’s democracy is to ensure that we continue to sustain and consolidate our democratic institutions and processes, and keep hope alive,” Jonathan said.
He lauded the armed forces who, he observed, had steadfastly subordinated themselves to civil authority in the past 13 years.
Meanwhile, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), while acknowledging the eternal place of Abiola in the political history of Nigeria and would want the highest possible honour done to him, deplored the indecent manner in which President Jonathan re-named the University of Lagos after him.
The group, in a statement, signed by Mr Yinka Odumakin, said renaming a university established by law through presidential fiat was an abuse of power, which would make even the symbol of democracy turn several times in his grave as he died in the process of fighting against arbitrariness and rule of the thumb, which the annulment of June 12 represented.
It added that it was high time President Jonathan embraced a democratic mindset and stop behaving like maximum ruler, adding that “we restate our demand that M.K.O Abiola be given a befitting honour for the sacrifices he made for democracy in Nigeria in a decent and worthy manner.”
Also, the leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, on Tuesday, described the renaming of the University of Lagos after the late Chief MKO Abiola as a decision coming late.
However, the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, described the gesture as better late than never.
The Afenifere leader said the decision to immortalise the late Abiola, 14 years after his death in detention, was belated.
According to him, what would have been most acceptable to the people of Yorubaland was the restoration of Abiola’s mandate, freely given to him on June 12, 1993 by Nigerians.
But Mimiko, who spoke through the Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Mr Kayode Akinmade, said the contribution of the late Abiola to the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria could not be underestimated, adding that any honour coming to him this time was enough to compensate him for the injustice he suffered in the hands of the military.
“The late Abiola remains a hero of democracy. He is a martyr, who laid his life for Nigerians to enjoy democracy. Political office holders in the country would only make the late martyr proud in his death if they make sacrifices and work hard to make those who voted them to power enjoy real dividends of democracy,” Mimiko said.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have been urged to give total support to Jonathan, in his efforts to unite and transform Nigeria into a developed nation.
Former national deputy chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, gave the advice on Tuesday, in a statement in which he commended Jonathan for naming the University of Lagos after Chief Abiola.
Oyedokun described Chief Abiola as the symbol of democracy in the country, adding that only a courageous leader could take such decision to right the wrongs of the past.
He noted that “with the decision taken by President Jonathan to name UNILAG after Chief MKO Abiola, there is also a clear sign that the president will right all the wrongs that had happened in the past.”
Reacting to the development, daughters of the late Chief Abiola, Mrs Lola Abiola-Edewor and Mrs Hasfat Abiola-Costello, commended the Federal Government for remaning UNILAG after their late father.
Abiola-Edewor lauded the Jonathan-led government for honouring his late father, many years after his demise, saying his contribution to the return of democracy in Nigeria had been justified.
Abiola-Edewor, a former federal lawmaker, speaking through her media assistant, Mr Akin Alade, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, condemned the protest by some students of the institution shortly after the announcement, adding that her late father had been denied his rightful place in the annals of democracy in Nigeria.
In her reaction, Abiola-Costello, a special assistant to Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said the honour was long overdue, adding that it was a right step in the right direction.
Also reacting, a former member of the National Assembly, Mrs Iyabo Anisu-lowo, described the development as “a fulfilment to the rule of law.”

CKN NEWS

Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Editor In Chief of CKNNEWS || He is a Law graduate and an Alumnus of Lagos State University, Lead City University Ibadan and Nigerian Institute Of Journalism || With over 2 decades practice in Journalism, PR and Advertising, he is a member of several Professional bodies within and outside Nigeria || Member: Institute Of Chartered Arbitrators ( UK ) || Member : Institute of Chartered Mediators And Conciliation || Member : Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations || Member : Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria || Fellow : Institute of Personality Development And Customer Relationship Management || Member and Chairman Board Of Trustees: Guild Of Professional Bloggers of Nigeria

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