The protests, limited to some students of the recently renamed Unilag, over the rechristening of their university is a silly and childish outburst by mindless students without a sense of history. Let me be clear I am not an MKO groupie nor was I ever a supporter of the man when he was alive. But the issue here is greater than an individual.

It is not the man - it is what he represented - not just the first free anf fair election in the blighted history of this country, but the first time in 2 and half decades of disctatorship, when the people, the ordinary people of Nigeria rose up to resist dictatorship in this land.

Perhaps the juveniles in Unilag are too young to remember, but the June 12 1993 election cancellation sparked the biggest and most succesfull civilain uprising in the history of this country. Almiost a month after the annulment, in the most staggering display of popular power in 100 years of Nigerian history, on July 5th 1993, brought out by civil pro-democracy groups, 1 million people tookm over the streets of lagos and demanded the overthrow of Ibrahim babangida. For the next 6 weeks in a magnificiant display of people power, the country was racked by mass demonstrations and general strikes that brough the country to a standstill and shattered for ever the myth of the Nigerian army's political invincibility, a legend created in January 1970 after it brutally crushed the Biafran rebellion and emerged as one of the most powerful instrunments of political repression on the African continent. Modern day the stage Nigeria is a product of June 12 because it marked the day the ordinary people of this country emerged onto the stage of histroy hereheto dominated by a handful of military officers, rich politicians and big businesmen to shape it in their own interest. 13 years of civil rule uninteruped by that terse voice and martial music is a first in the history of this country. We have not reached the promised land but at least we have the space to struggle to reach it.

GEJ is a let down, but if we elected him that means tomorrow we can elect sombody better, and if not the next time another person until we get the right individual. It is a process, but it would never have started if not for June 12 and Abiola's refusal to surrender his mandate. He was not perfect but give him his due he stood up in June 12.

Babangida's removal in the face of a mass civilian uprising that could not be crushed by force alone, is what broke the back of dictatorship in the country, even though Abacha would rule murdeously for another 5 years, his regime was one of crisis, that crucially unlike all the military regimes that had gone before ruled without the consensual agreement of the Nigerian establishment and critically the western powers. That's why it collapsed so easily

If Abiola had surrendered his mandate in the aftermath of the election there would have been no uprising, IBB would have remained in power, there would have been no May 1999 and no GEJ.

This country would still be under dictatorship and those demonstrating Unilag students would have faced bullets, arrest, torture and would have had their school closed for months, and their leaders rusticated from school.

True the country is not in a good state, but for those old enough it was far worse under the soldiers. There were no mobile phones,no internet, no multimedia, not because the technology was not there but because it was not allowed because every dictatorship neds to monopolise the means of communication which is why on coup day the first place they go to is the radio station and Nitel. There where no or few roads being built, there were no social programmes, no scholarships, there were few if any Governors trying a bit to be accountable and improve things as there is now and nobody could dream of calling a general strike. The last oil subsidy protest which brought millions to the streets in January including presumably some of those angry demonstrating Unilag student? under the military ? forget it if that had been under the military hundreds would have been shot dead in the street and nada would have happened

As for foreign travel - now you have thousands going abroad every year - under the soldiers nobody was getting visas apart from the very ich and their families.

People fought to get rid of the military from 1985 - 1993, scores of students were shot dead in almost yearly uprisings against the dictators, hundreds more were expeled from university, many student leaders were detained and brutally tortured by the intelligence services - many went mad, labour leaders were sacked many were detained some died there, the same applied for pro-democracy activits. Many including Abiola inspite of all his faults paid the supreme sacrifice.

If not for their sacrifice, the idiots now demonstrating in Unilag would not be in university. Part of the military agenda was to totally wreck higher education in Nigeria, through its wholesale commercialistion allowing only their own children to attend university while the kids of the poor and middle class learnt trades - how to repair their cars, polish their shoes, draw their water, dig their foundations and paint their houses. And that is for those who ended up getting jobs. It is not as if the crooks in power now cannot or have not got plans to do the same - however the difference is that as bad as things are nobody can just rule by fiat iin the country anymore. If the military had remained in power a bloody civil war without frontiers like the chaos that engulfed liberai and Sierra-Leone would have torn this country apart.

If that had happened the students demonstrating in Unilag would not have been in school they would have been child soldiers in the bush. There was atime when students in the country used to fight worthy causes, free eductaion, against IMF/World ban enslavement - now they fight over a name and what name

UNILAG IS A SLAVE NAME

UNILAG means University of Lagos. Do they know who named the city Lagos? Is there any word in the local dialect of the original inhabitants of Lagos called lagos. lagos was the name given to the island of Eko by portuguese SLAVE TRADERS.

It was the name imposed on the town by forigners who came to take our people away into slavery, those who started the black holocaust - the Trans Atlantic Slave trade. So what makes that name superior to that of Moshood Abiola. Yes Abiola was corrupt, but he was not a racist slave dealer - I would rather have my school named after a corrupt person who partly reddeemed himself by at least fighting the military who made him rich and impoverised the country, than have my school named after foreign racists who named their conquest in their own image all the better to rape it.

Kunta Kunte or Toby ?

I know which one I would take. Unilag students have alwasy had a reputation even in the good old days of energetic student activism for being a tad superficial - seems some things never change

My friend. . .MKO and university of lagos do not have any r/ship.Awolowo was d brainchild of OAU and he also did much as d premier of d western region with free and compulsory education-So says our historians. Adekunle Ajasin signed d law establishing d Ondo state Uni-later d uni was changed 2 his name.
We already have a uni/poly named afetr MKO.Even if he wanted 2 imortalise him,d question is y Lagos? y not Aso Rock Villa or University of Abuja? Its obvious dat d lunatic is tryna play politics.

My friend if you don't know what to say you better stop saying jargons, is unilag stands for is mandate, stead of declaring June 12 has democracy day, is afraid of northerner and want to destablise yorubaland, were more wiser than him let him name any place in abuja because abiola died for is mandete for yorubas.