Hordes of students of the erstwhile University of Lagos (UNILAG) have taken to the streets of Lagos to protest President Goodluck Jonathan’s Tuesday renaming of the institution as Moshood Abiola University, in honour of the late acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 elections, Chief Moshood Abiola.
Jonathan made the announcement during a nationwide broadcast to mark the 2012 Democracy Day celebration, the 13th anniversary of the country’s uninterrupted return to civil rule.
“The Federal Government has decided that late Chief MKO Abiola should be honoured,” the president had said. “In honour of Chief MKO Abiola, the University of Lagos is renamed the Moshood Abiola University.”
The 1993 election was adjudged the country’s ‘freest and fairest’ election ever by local and international observers, but the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida annulled it.
Abiola later declared himself the lawful president of the country, prompting his arrest for treason by the then Head of States, General Sani Abacha. He was solitarily detained for four years; and on July 7, 1998 the day he was to be released, following Abacha’s death a month earlier he died under questionable circumstances.
However, in a clear indication of feelings of indignation for the name-change, students of the renamed UNILAG have hit the streets in protest, and have expressed preference for their old name.
The students reportedly began gathering at the gate of the main university in Akoka after the nationwide broadcast, from where they trooped to their hostels to gather more numbers. They returned to block access to the university and obstruct flow of traffic around UNILAG Road and St. Finbarr’s Road. While there have been insinuations that the protest was sponsored, UNILAG students expressed popular resent for the idea.
“It doesn’t make sense,” a visibly angry 500-level Medicine and Surgery student told THEWILL on phone. “How can the president just change the name of our school like that? Fine, we are civilians and we support democracy, but the change of name is most undemocratic because we were not consulted: the students, the authorities. We have nothing against Abiola but we do not like this name. We do not want it.”
An even angrier student, who simply identified himself as Akeem, said, “This is a very useless decision by the president. What is the meaning of changing UNILAG’s name? You can change the structure and content of an institution but what meaning does a change of name represent? Does it in anyway improve UNILAG or does it in anyway improve our chances of catching up with medical institutions abroad.
“What the president does not know is that the name ‘UNILAG’ is an institution already. Students are very angry with him. Go to Ojuelegba and see how students are protesting….”
Yet another student, Leye Joseph, responded, saying, “There’s confusion in the upper arm of the government. There are so many things that the government should do but has turned blind eye to.
It is uncalled for and inappropriate. You have done nothing for the school so leave it the way it is.
“And then, there is already a Moshood Abiola Stadium and a Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. Can’t the government honour this man in any other way apart from naming institutions after him?”
Founded in 1962, the Moshood Abiola University, as it will now be known, has a main campus at Akoka, Yaba; and a College of Medicine at Idi-Araba, all in Lagos. It is one of 25 federal universities managed and accredited by the National Universities Commission.
The main campus is largely surrounded by the scenic view of the Lagos lagoon and is located on 802 acres (3.25 km2) of land in Akoka, North Eastern part of Yaba, Lagos. From a modest intake of 131 students in 1962, enrolment in the university has now grown to over 39,000, with a total staff strength of 3,365.
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