The University of Lagos Alumni Association has joined the
National Assembly in the suit filed against the Federal Government
for renaming the university the Moshood Abiola University.
The decision was taken after its extra-ordinary general meeting
penultimate Sunday.
The association had filed a suit seeking to restrain the Federal
Government from renaming UNILAG at the Federal High Court,
Lagos, last week.
The association, which claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan
erred in renaming the 50-year-old institution without following
due process, explained that the university was established by an
Act of Parliament and could therefore not be unilaterally renamed
by the President.
The body also said there was no provision for a name change in
the Act that established the university.
But in a response to this observation, Jonathan sent a bill to the
National Assembly last Wednesday asking its members to okay
the name change. The bill passed through the first and second
reading at the Senate on Thursday.
Speaking on behalf of the alumni in Lagos on Sunday, Mr. Femi
Oladimeji said the association decided to join the National
Assembly in the suit in view of the development in the last one
week.
Oladimeji, who is a member of the alumni executive council, said
the association would also write every member of the National
Assembly for support against government’s decision to rename
the university.
To obtain the 50,000 signatures required by the National
Assembly in case of the need for a referendum on the issue, the
alumni association urged its members to immediately sign in on
unilagalumniassociation@yahoo.co.uk.
Jonathan had on May 29 renamed UNILAG after the acclaimed
winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO
Abiola.
But the President’s decision was widely criticised by the alumni
association, the university students and other Nigerians, who
accused him of trying to rob UNILAG to pay Abiola.
While the consensus of opinion pointed to the need to honour
Abiola, the President’s critics claimed that UNILAG, as a well-
established brand, should not be renamed after an individual to
score cheap political points.