'National Association of Nigerian Students' Applaud Goodluck Jonathan For Renaming UNILAG After MKO Abiola

Despite the raging controversy over the renaming of 50 –year-old University of Lagos (UNILAG) after the late Chief MKO Abiola by the Federal Government, the decision got the endorsement of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) yesterday.

The association urged the students and the authority of UNILAG to take government’s action as a step taken in the right direction.
The students’ nod came on the 19th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, adjudged to be Nigeria’s fairest and freest.
The election, won by the late business mogul, was annulled by the military administration of former President Ibrahim Babangida.
President Goodluck Jonathan in his “Democracy Day” broadcast on May 29, announced the renaming of the Ivory Tower after the late politician in recognition of the supreme price he paid for the enthronement of democracy.

But the decision sparked protests, forcing the closure of the varsity when the students disrupted public peace.
NANS said the immortalisation of MKO Abiola was overdue.
In a statement, NANS’ National President Dauda Muhammed, said there is no better way of celebrating Abiola.

The statement described the late Abiola as an accomplished businessman, politician and an unparalleled philanthropist, who sacrificed his life for freedom and democracy.

It reads:

 “There is therefore no better way we can celebrate the remembrance of June 12 than for us as a nation to always acknowledge the ultimate sacrifice that the acclaimed winner of the June 12 election Chief MKO Abiola made with his life which today has in turn given birth to the present democracy being enjoyed in our country.

“It is in lieu of the above that we want to once again appreciate the Federal for honouring Chief MKO Abiola by renaming the former University of Lagos after him (Abiola).

“We sincerely want to appeal to our colleagues and other stakeholders in the university (of Lagos) to use the occasion of this June 12 celebration to appreciate the essence of the Federal decision to rename the university of Lagos after MKO Abiola.”

“While restating its belief in the sustenance of democracy, NANS lamented that then nations leaders have not fully appreciated the virtues exhibited by the late Abiola in his lifetime, and urged them to use today open a new leaf towards a better governance.

 “We want to urge all Nigerians particularly our political leaders to concentrate on the task of developing our nation and ensuring further peaceful coexistence among our people rather than being preoccupied by the politics of 2015 elections that are still far ahead.”