UNILAG crisis deepens
• Varsity shut, students stay put • New name in nation’s
interest -FG • No Bill to change name before us –Senate
The Senate of the University of Lagos on Wednesday
shut down the 50-year-old institution for two weeks and asked the
students to vacate the campus latest 11 o’clock in the morning.
The closure came on the second day of protest by the
students who are against the renaming of the university after the winner
of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola, by President
Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday.
Notwithstanding the closure the students on Wednesday vowed not to leave the campus.
The Federal Government has, however, said the
decision to rename the university established by an Act of parliament in
April 1962 was done in the best interest of the country and that the
protest was not a disapproval of the decision to rename UNILAG.
Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, told State
House correspondents on Wednesday, “The decision has been made in very
good faith by Mr. President and we have seen the reactions by a section
of the students of University of Lagos. We have also seen the outpouring
of encomiums by patriots and statesmen who really understand the
reasons why the President honoured Abiola.
“It is our hope that reason will prevail and that the
decision to honour one of our nation’s icons and heroes will be
appreciated by all Nigerians, including our youths and students who are
the future leaders of this country.”
But the Senate has faulted the decision of Jonathan,
submitting that only an amendment to the Act establishing the University
of Lagos can alter its name.
Leader of the Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the National Assembly has yet to receive any bill to that effect.
Ndoma-Egba said the University of Lagos was created
by law and only an amendment to the law creating it by the National
Assembly could change its name.
“To the best of my knowledge there is no such bill before the National Assembly,” he said.
The protesting students on Wednesday shut down
activities at the Yaba and Victoria Island areas of Lagos, blocking the
Third Mainland Bridge with a BRT bus they forcibly took over from its
driver.
For over three hours, Lagosians who work on the
Island were trapped in the traffic gridlock while the main gate of the
institution was blocked by the protesting students.
A commuter who spoke with one of our correspondents said that he was in the heavy traffic for about two hours.
A banker who works on the Island, Mr. Dapo Awoyemi,
said, “The traffic was so bad that I spent about two hours before I
could get to my office. When I entered the traffic at Iyana Oworo, I
thought it was a joke. It was later I discovered that the UNILAG
students had blocked the road but since there was nothing I could do, I
kept on moving and burning my fuel.
“Though I’m not a product of UNILAG, I don’t think
that it is right to change the name of a 50 year-old university just
like that.”
Dignitaries who visited the university to witness the
special Senate Session organised by the university for its late
vice-Chancellor, Prof. Tokunbo Sofoluwe, were forced to enter the
institution through the second gate near the Mountain of Fire Church at
Onike-Yaba.
As the protest was going on, the university Senate
hurriedly met around 9am where the decision to close down the
institution was reached.
After the brief meeting chaired by the acting VC,
Prof. Rahman Bello, the university asked the students to vacate their
halls of residence before 11am as all academic activities had been
suspended for two weeks.
Bello after the meeting told the press that the
decision to suspend academic activities for two weeks was to give peace a
chance and to prevent the crisis from degenerating.
He said, “In view of the recent developments on our
campuses, the Senate of the University has directed all academic
activities be suspended forthwith for two weeks.
“Accordingly, all students are to vacate the halls of residence, latest by 11:00am today (Wednesday).”
But the students said they would not stop the protest until Jonathan reverse the decision.
Though they were dispersed from the Third Mainland
Bridge, the students regrouped at Herbert Macaulay Way, where they
continued with the protest around 11.30am.
They were chanting anti-Jonathan songs while some
bore placards with the inscription “Jonathan is a liar, he must go,”
“It’s only Jonathan that will attend MAUL varsity’ and “We hate
Jonathan.”
They said that their next stage of the protest would
be the Ikeja Airport, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company and the
Central Bank of Nigeria.
One of them, Martin Awolo, said, “We are going to the
airport tomorrow, then NNPC and CBN. We are going to protest at these
places. Our plan is to visit all the top organisations in the state.
There is no giving up until Jonathan reverses this provocative
decision.”
Another student, Mr. Saheed Adebayo, said, “We are
going on strike for a month. We don’t care about our studies. Jonathan
must not go free. He can’t change the name of our university. The name
UNILAG carries weight. We have no business with Abiola.”
A student who identified himself simply as Wale said
that students at all the campuses of the university across the state
would be mobilised to join them in a sympathy protest.
“We are marching to Idi-Araba, LUTH; we heard that
students there are having lectures. No student is to have lecture. We
must all join the strike,” he said.
However, some students used the opportunity to
destroy and loot items at a filling station inside the UNILAG AP and
Total filling station on Herbert Macaulay Way.
A salesman at the TOTAL filling station, who
identified himself as Soji, said that the students took gallons of
engine oil worth over N10, 000 and also fuelled their cars and bikes
with petrol without paying a dime.
He said, “The students came in groups and grabbed me.
They were shouting, telling me to fuel their cars and bikes. When I
refused, they said they were going to beat me up.”
The students were also seen harassing a female sales
girl when she refused to heed their demands. Aside from looting gallons
of engine oil and fuelling their cars, the students took soft drinks and
snacks from the stations without any payment.
The President also came under heavy criticisms during
the special senate session as most of the speakers described him as an
“insensitive” leader.
The President, Nigerian Academy of Science, Prof. Oye
Ibidapo-Obe, and the Vice-Chancellor, Ekiti State University, Prof.
P.O. Aina, as well as the Provost, College of Medicine, UNILAG, Prof.
Oluwole Atoyebi, said the decision to rename UNILAG was not well-thought
out.
“This is the most inappropriate time to make such a
decision. It shows that the president is insensitive; this is a period
of mourning. That decision to rename the university should not have been
disclosed at this time. Education is not in the forefront. I’m sure
President Jonathan did not make any consultation before going ahead with
the decision to rename the university,” Ibidapo-Obe said.
Atoyebi said that the name change was a rumour.
“As far as I know, the President’s decision to rename the university
is a rumour. I believe it’s just a thought on his mind. It’s a rumour or
a proposition on his mind, because this university was set up by an Act
of Parliament. So maybe he is proposing to send a bill or something.
Until then, this university remains UNILAG,” he said.
