4th June, 2012
The controversy and uproar generated by the broadcast of President Goodluck Jonathan on 29 May, 2012, renaming Unilag after MKO Abiola has snowballed into legal battle.
This morning, students of Unilag stormed the Federal High Court in Lagos to file a case against the president.
The said suit was filed by Sunday Gabriel Asaolu, a post graduate student of Law and nine others versus the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The students want a declaration that the action of the president in renaming the institution is unconstitutional, null and void.
The plaintiffs averred that the University of Lagos, being a creation of an Act of Parliament (University of Lagos Act 1997) cannot be renamed by the president without seeking approval from legislators.
The suit, which was filed on behalf o the students by Dr. Kayode Owolabi, also want the court to determine if the president has the power to do what he did.
At the time of filing this report, the lawyer and plaintiffs are still filing the process at the Federal High Court registry.
—Akin Kuponiyi