UNILAG Or MAU: A Controversy Like No Other

President Goodluck Jonathan must have expected a torrent of public applause for his decision to rename the 50-year old University of Lagos (UNILAG), Moshood Abiola University, (MAU) after the business mogul who won the 1993 presidential election.

But what he got was a mixed grill: a deafening rejection of the move, street protests by students, outright rejection by the alumni association, some praises here and there. In summary, there were more condemnatory remarks than praises. Those who condemned the action have nothing against Abiola. They believe, just as we do, that he deserves all the honour that could be bestowed on him. But what has riled most Nigerians is the manner the decision to rename UNILAG was taken. It was brazenly undemocratic and contradicts the spirit of the honour: here was a case of a posthumous honour to the man who embodied the spirit of Nigeria’s democratic struggles, being done most undemocratically, the same way the military tyrants that annulled Abiola’s election behaved.

Every sane democracy is anchored on the rule of law and we expect President Jonathan to understand this 101 rule of democracy. As UNILAG was the creation of an Act of Parliament in 1962, we expect that Jonathan would also tread the path of law and first of all send an amendment bill to the National Assembly. Nigeria’s president who only a few days ago was quoting the law on the reinstatement of the President of the Court of Appeal, did not do this.

Because Nigeria is a 13 year old democracy, it is difficult to imagine how the name change can pass through the assembly after this terrible faux pas and judging by the groundswell of opposition by students, lecturers and the alumni of the university. This is more so, as the National Assembly had passed a resolution under the presidency of the military autocrat, Olusegun Obasanjo to rename the National Stadium Abuja, Moshood Abiola Stadium. The parliamentary advice is still gathering dust somewhere on Aso Rock shelf, disregarded, scorned. The questions are: was the president oblivious of this old recommendation? Why didn’t he start from here, afterall Abiola was the “pillar of sports in Africa’, in his lifetime.

We suspect that many elected Nigerian officials who cut their political teeth under the military, carry the virus of ‘’with the immediate effect’’ mentality.

Otherwise there ought to have been a demonstrable sensitivity on this issue, that our nation no longer lives under military rule and that decisions ought to pass the litmus test of consensus and legality.

Decades ago, when the University of Ife was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University, there was a similar huge antipathy like now, but the populist Babangida government got its way. Awolowo was a distinguished Yoruba son, founder of University of Ife, a man of letters, who was also conferred the doctor of letters by the university, but there was resentment against the name change all the same. The reason was clear: University of Ife had become a brand and it was also a fitting cultural torchbearer for the ancient city of Ife, highly regarded by Yoruba in Nigeria and the diaspora.

The same sentiment rings the changing of the UNILAG name. Like Ife, UNILAG has become an iconic name, a brand promoting the commercial city of Lagos and its lagoon. It’s like changing the name of Coca-Cola to ‘soda cola’ or any other unfancied name. All over the world, universities do not only serve as centres where people seek knowledge, but also serve as cultural centres, for cities, states and nations. Think about the great institutions of this world, Harvard, Oxford, Massachussetts, Cambridge, LA, and so many others, they are not just schools, but also embodiments of their host cities.

In our view, the cultural identity and significance of UNILAG, will be completely eroded by the renaming of the institution.

Though we subscribe wholeheartedly to the naming of a national monument after Moshood Abiola, who died in detention on 7 July, 1998 while fighting to reclaim his stolen mandate, we do not believe that naming UNILAG after him was the right thing to do.

We believe the decision was not well thought-out. It was ill-advised, illegal and unwarranted.

Let the President find some other monument for MKO. The president can even create a new university in the name of this illustrious Nigerian whose mandate was denied by the military junta that ruled our country in 1993.