NAN-President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday morning paid tribute to the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola, and other heroes and martyrs of democracy for serving as catalysts for the emergence of civilian government in 1999.
In a speech to the nation, Jonathan said they made huge sacrifices and ensured that military dictatorship became a thing of the past.
In honour of Abiola, he said, “The Federal Government has decided that late Chief MKO Abiola should be honoured. In honour of Chief MKO Abiola, the University of Lagos is renamed the Moshood Abiola University.”
Abiola died in the detention on July 7, 1998 a month after military despot, Gen. Sani Abacha, died in office. Abiola had been arrested on June 23, 1994 in Lagos and detained till he died for demanding the actualisation of the mandate given him by Nigerians in the June 12, 1993 presidential election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party.
The election described as the most credible in the history of the country was annulled by a former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, whose regime conducted the poll.
Abiola’s self-declaration as president based on the result of the election led to his incarceration and his eventual death.
By renaming UNILAG after Abiola, Jonathan has yielded to widespread clamour for the Federal Government to name a befitting monument after Abiola Jonathan.
In his speech, Jonathan said the decision to rename UNILAG after Abiola was borne out of his government’s desire to honour the politician, who he said paid the supreme price for democracy in the country. He added that an institute of democratic studies would also be established in the university.
Jonathan also disclosed his government’s plan to establish a presidential museum in Abuja.
The museum, he explained, would catalogue the lives of Nigeria’s former presidents since 1960.
He said Nigeria’s democratic experience in the last 13 years had been a mixed bag, giving the assurance, however, that the nation would not disintegrate.
“Nigeria is a nation of resilient people, Nigeria will never ever disintegrate,” he said.
He also vowed to eradicate violence from the nation’s electoral process and ensure the prosecution of persons indicted for acts of violence.
Value chains will be broken while re-naming our educational institutions of higher learning incessantly without considering the present Unilag undergraduates and those who will attend the school in the future who may not be able to explain the this politically motivated change of name to foreign institutions in case, they seek foreign admission for their Masters programs, just because, The brand called Unilag is a global brand already.