Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

[oreli...@yahoo.com]

It is disheartening to find the students of the University of Lagos now Moshood Abiola University protesting due to the fact that the President of the federation honoured the late Abiola. Why are they protesting? That's my question. They have portrayed irresponsible character of themselves and showed that they have not been fully educated,which have amounted to their gross ignorance of what they should do instead.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

[Femi Kolapo]

I doubt that most students will question whether  late Abiola deserves national honor. The question rather is whether  students (and alumni) and the community were taken into partnership in the decision to change the name of their school. Did government  envisage that students and other interested parties may have views and opinions that required discussions and negotiations before such decision was made?

Another way to look at it is to ask whether another king could tomorrow ascend to our authoritarian throne and arbitrarily decide that the name of the university should be changed again to Wok & Chop University?

Democracy and respect of the citizen by the government goes beyond the ballot box transaction. Relationship between Nigeria,together with its governments and its young (beginning from elementary school level) should model respect and democracy. 

f.j. kolapo

> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU
> To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> From: oreli...@yahoo.com
> Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 12:02:32 +0000

>
> It is disheartening to find the students of the University of Lagos now Moshood Abiola University protesting due to the fact that the President of the federation honoured the late Abiola. Why are they protesting? That's my question. They have portrayed irresponsible character of themselves and showed that they have not been fully educated,which have amounted to their gross ignorance of what they should do instead.
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
>

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[oreli...@yahoo.com]

Honestly from reliable sources, those things that should be taking into stand weren't...in addition to this, what is the correlation between the Late Abiola and Education. He fought for Democracy not education. If he was named after the National House of Assembly, that would have been remarkful and more meaningful enough. In any case, i don't see any reasonable point students protesting. Its not the first to be changed and won't be last i think. Democracy to our leaders of now is not by the people anymore. They assume the mind of the citizens and think for them not minding their opinions and contributions to the country's development

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

---

From: Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 10:07:08 -0400

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

[Folu Ogundimu]

Femi,

Very well-said. Our folks should know that consultations and public debate are essential to the transactional nature of democracy. Some national institutions like the University of Lagos already have established names and identity of indeterminable value. We should be cautious about flushing such valuable property down the drain. 

Perhaps our so-called democrats will learn not to behave like the callous military autocrats they succeeded. Or perhaps we should force them to behave like democrats. 

Folu

Sent from my iPhone

[Ogechi Anyanwu]

 I agree with Kolapo, but at this time we are unsure of the extent to which the federal government engaged UNILAG stakeholders before making the decision to change to change the name of the university. Did they consult the academic and non-academic unions, including student bodies? Did they lend their full support? Did majority support the change? If they carried most people along then the recent protest will not endure. I remember that when Ikedi Ohakim, a former governor of Imo State, changed the name of the state university to Evan Enwerem University without wide consultation, that decision did not enjoy popular support.  The unpopularity of the decision made it an easy political decision for the current governor, Rochas Okorocha, to revert to the old name: Imo State University. I hope this will not be the case with Moshood Abiola University because he thoroughly deserves it.

Ogech

.  

 

===========================================

Ogechi E. Anyanwu, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of African History 

Eastern Kentucky University

310 Keith Building

Richmond, KY 40475

Tel: (859) 622-1375

Email: ogechi....@eku.edu

http://www.history.eku.edu/people/anyanwu

Editor-in-chief, Journal of Retracing Africa, http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/

Author, The Politics of Access: http://uofcpress.com/books/9781552385180

===========================================

---

From: Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com>

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 10:07 AM
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

[Eke, Maureen Ngozi]

Well put, indeed. Do they think about the international implications of such renaming? Imagine any of the American public universities suddenly being named for someone without consulting all state holders! Really? Let us not speak of democracy when we cannot even describe or spell it. What historical achievements are being honored with such renaming? In a country where every and anything can be easily bought or sold, such decisions which did not involve consultation with those affected would be suspect. Hmm! How much money changed hands and who initiated the process in the first place? Well, just wait a few years and we  could rename one of the capital cities for some figure with a lot of Naira. I am on the side of the students!

 

Maureen N. Eke, PHD

Professor of English

AN 240

Central Michigan University

Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859

Direct: 989-774-1087

Main: 989-774-3171

Fax: 989-773-1271

Email: eke...@cmich.edu or Maure...@cmich.edu

[oreli...@yahoo.com]

I agree with you, perhaps any of the state could be changed someday. God knows.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

---

From: "Eke, Maureen Ngozi" <eke...@cmich.edu>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 15:13:45 +0000

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

[Tade Aina]

This is one of the saddest things about African leadership. MKO is one of Nigeria's heroes and that needs to be honored, recognized and respected. But this is politics- neo-authoritarian politics that did not consult university stakeholders before the name was changed. Please donot forget that the University has no substantive VC, Prof. Shofoluwe died in office and will be buried on May 31st. It also shows a lack of sensisitivity both for that fact and for the history of the University particularly the need to retain its national and cosmopolitan status in every way. It took Unilag several years to recover from the Eni Njoku/Biobaku succession issue and how it was politicized within both the national and ethnic politics of that era. Kayode Adams , a student union leader was a victim and symbol of that struggle and that era.  He single handedly got involved in a way that was illegal and violent and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital. The current student protesters need to be careful not to become scapegoats and victims of larger political machinations and strategies(intrigues) that they know little or nothing about. The absence of memory in important decision making in Nigeria is one other big problem with our current leadership.

-taa.

From: Ogechi Anyanwu <ogepa...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Ogechi Anyanwu <ogepa...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 10:34 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

 I agree with Kolapo, but at this time we are unsure of the extent to which the federal government engaged UNILAG stakeholders before making the decision to change to change the name of the university. Did they consult the academic and non-academic unions, including student bodies? Did they lend their full support? Did majority support the change? If they carried most people along then the recent protest will not endure. I remember that when Ikedi Ohakim, a former governor of Imo State, changed the name of the state university to Evan Enwerem University without wide consultation, that decision did not enjoy popular support.  The unpopularity of the decision made it an easy political decision for the current governor, Rochas Okorocha, to revert to the old name: Imo State University. I hope this will not be the case with Moshood Abiola University because he thoroughly deserves it.

Ogech

.  

 

===========================================

Ogechi E. Anyanwu, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of African History 

Eastern Kentucky University

310 Keith Building

Richmond, KY 40475

Tel: (859) 622-1375

Email: ogechi....@eku.edu

http://www.history.eku.edu/people/anyanwu

Editor-in-chief, Journal of Retracing Africa, http://encompass.eku.edu/jora/

Author, The Politics of Access: http://uofcpress.com/books/9781552385180

===========================================

[Ayo Obe]

The students have not portrayed any irresponsible nature, nor are they protesting because they want to dishonour Abiola.  At this stage, the students, and the people want genuine and concrete transformation, not an irresponsible and arbitrary attempt at cheap populism which has backfired spectacularly and has already exposed the Jonathan administration to unnecessary ridicule. 

This is either a misguided attempt to win some low-cost popularity in the South West - in which case there can be no clearer evidence of the disconnect between the Jonathan administration - holed up behind a wall of security in Aso Rock - and the Nigerian people: or it is a clever attempt to bring down both MKO Abiola and the University of Lagos at a stroke.  Already some are claiming that Unilag students are ignorant of history and that the protests against the renaming show that Ibrahim Babangida was correct in annulling the June 12th election because Yoruba people didn't really want him as President.

The fact is that nobody can point to any serious connection between MKO and education in general, or the University of Lagos in particular.  What MKO was known for was his support for sports, a support which - through the Youth Sports Federation Of Nigeria (YSFON) - earned him the title 'Pillar of Sports in Africa'.  That is why people called for the National Stadium to be named after him.  So even if Jonathan wanted to regionalise the honour he wanted to do Abiola and did not want to pick the National Stadium at Abuja, he could have tried the one in Lagos.

It seems that legislation is required to effect this change.  It would be better if the administration quietly forgot about it and concentrated on more substantive matters,

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

[chukwuma adilieje]

Femi My brother, you are quite right there. It seems to me that politics was the overriding consideration in the decision to rename the University after the Late M.K.O. Abiola of blessed memory, this should not have been so. My humble opinion is that University of Lagos should be drawn into the murky waters of Nigerian politics. Besides if proper consultations of with all the stake holders were undertaken before the change was announced I doubt that we would witness the kind of demonstration and outpouring of anger among the various stake holder who have already voiced their regret over the change and urged its reversal. I believe that, were chief M.K.O. Abiola  to be alive today, he would like late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who in 1986, rejected such an honour after University of Nigeria was renamed after him, do the same thing. This is really a disservice to the  memory of Chief Abiola, because the last thing anybody should do is to drag his name to the mud after he had lived his life and earned his image as a great philanthropist and businessman; democracy Icon and a pillar of sports in Africa. everyone is I spoken to is agreeable to having an appropriate honour done to the memory of M.K.O. Abiola. There is no reason why anybody should choose to paint Abiola as a controversial figure after his death. As I write this the Alumni, ASUU, and the non- Academic staff members of the University have all rejected  this sudden change of name. From available information the Senate of the may follow suit as many senior professors in the university have also voiced their opposition to this change. The university does not belong to members of the Federal Executive Council but to all its stake holders who ought to have been properly consulted. The name University of Lagos, symbolizes all its past achievement and and its present standing in international education sector. It is what it is today, partly because of what itself good name brings to it. I am also talking in terms of what image the numerous people across the world have about the university and its graduates over the years. The name change make a mess of the efforts of the past years to build a brand that is capable of  attracting national and international goodwill the every university so very much deserves. The name change takes the university back to the level of new universities in Nigeria that are still struggling to find their feet both in terms of track record of academic standards, quality of learning and level of human resources development, as it will now be faced with the unenviable task of convincing the public that the name change should not affect its image and integrity. The track record of any university includes its name and is part of what attracts quality academics and students to it. But the question should therefore be asked : "What was wrong with the name University of Lagos that warranted a desperate desire to change it or reposition the university?'.   If it is just a change of name, do you change a good name which any institution has built without hurting that institution or truncating its past glory standing a risk of reversing its progress?  --- On Tue, 5/29/12, Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[K. Gozie Ifesinachukwu]

Is there no such thing as permanence in Nigeria. Must everything and all things be transitory? University of Lagos is a brand with hard won reputation. As important as Steve Jobs was to Apple Inc., can you imagine changing Apple Inc. to Jobs Inc.? The federal government recently established several new universities, why not name one of these after Abiola, or better yet name  "democracy" day and the national assembly after Abiola. It is disheartening to know that nothing is permanent in Nigeria, may be not even Nigeria itself. One day you wake up and you are living in a new state created out thing air or your school goes from University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University--without consultation, without debate. If we are not already the laughing stock of the world, then we ought to be.

Gozie 

[Professor Ayandiji Daniel Aina]

The cacophony of voices dishonorable of the one who gave his life for others to live will soon  fade away. If the great University of Ife became Obafemi Awolowo University, I do not see the reason why the University of Lagos or the great University of Ibadan can not wear MKO's name. Granted that the GEJ administration appear opportunistic, this is an honour long over due. However, I sympathize with those who are responding to the fact that they have to wake up to see their certificates in the months to come bear another name other than unilag. I will like to appeal to them to allow the memory of the late MKO remain ever green. Consider the late business mogul being your dad or uncle, so rich, yet elected to fight and die for the greater need to end General Babangida's 'unending transition' and General Abacha political nightmare. I will volunteer if I were a unilag alumnus ( I am a great UITE), to have even my certificate retrieved and reissued assuming it were possible to honour this man who lost his life, his precious wife and business empire. He could have, like many thieving politicians, kept his wealth overseas and quietly enjoy ( is it enjoyment, or going lunatic?) it. Let the debate continue so that those experiencing shock can find easy and immediate outlet. Alternatively, President Jonathan can beat a retreat and name the Abuja national stadium in honor of MKO who happened to be the pillar of sports in Africa.

Happy DemoCRAZY day from Edeland, in the state of Osun, Nigeria.

AD Aina

Sent from my iPad

On May 29, 2012, at 8:21 PM, odigwe nwaokocha <nwa...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Those who are protesting the change of name are showing gross disrespect to one of  modern Nigeria's truely great and remarkable men. What a pity!

 

Odigwe A. Nwaokocha
Department of History and International Studies
University of Benin
Benin City, Nigeria.

---

From: Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 7:46 PM

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

The State of Lagos as the most progressive State in the federation was as we all know, the battlefield for the restoration of that mandate; it is important to consider democratic protocols and the politics involved, I think, nonetheless, it is deserving, just as i believe renaming the University of Ife to acknowledge Awolowo's vision of enlightenment. Zik on his part got what he deserved, the politics he played with the name "The University of Nigeria" came back to become his nemesis!

Bode

On May 29, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Kunle Lawal <kunlel...@yahoo.com> wrote:

I completely disagree with my own brother, Wole Atere, on this issue.  I am wondering if the ideal honour to the memory of Chief M.K.O. Abiola should not have been the renaming of the troublesome University of Abuja to Moshood Kashimawo Abiola University.  Perhaps if this had been the case, the case may have been made, properly, for acknowledging the Pan-Nigerian mandate which the late Chief Abiola clearly won and for which he paid the supreme price.  After all, the University of Abuja would have made it clear and beyond reasonable doubts, too, that President Jonathan is desirous of a lasting solution to the challenge of the most appropriate national monument to the man whose single-minded sacrifice brought about the present democratic dispensation.  Certainly, it will be the day when President Jonathan brings Goodluck to his administration when he openly reverses himself on this clearly unpopular step.  I want to appeal to him to do something unexpected for a change!

The last word : I waant to appeal to President Jonathan not to allow the joke that the Great University of Ibadan will be renamed Lamidi adedibu University.

Professor Olakunle A. Lawal

Department of History

University of Ibadan

IBADAn - NIGERIA

---

From: "wolea...@yahoo.com" <wolea...@yahoo.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, 29 May 2012, 17:36
Subject: Re: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

I have watched with interest, the views expressed on this matter. Dare I say at the risk of voicing a minority view that it is a needless protest. Like someone wrote, this is NOT the first nor will it be the last time a University would be renamed. Several people had expressed misgivings about the non-recognition of the hero that the Late Abiola was in the development of democracy in Nigeria. Now that it has come, it is being greeted with protest. Perhaps we require a reminder that the affected University is funded by the Federal Government symbolised by President Goodluck Jonathan. In any case, the other University that would have been focused is the Federal University, Abeokuta. My suspicion is that it is being reserved for former President Obasanjo, when he eventually passes on. As for the Senate of the University, no Senate that understands the workings of government owned University will make such an issue a matter for Senate debate. I admonish 'the stakeholders' in the University to prevent an avoidable crisis by accepting the change as inevitable, after all change is the only permanent phenomenon in life. Meanwhile, kudos to Mr President. Adewole Atere, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology. Osun State University

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

---

From: chukwuma adilieje <chum...@yahoo.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 08:59:08 -0700 (PDT)

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Cc: chuma<chum...@yahoo.com>

Subject: Fw: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

Femi My brother, you are quite right there. It appears to me that politics was the overriding consideration in the decision to rename the University after the Late M.K.O. Abiola of blessed memory, should not have been so. My humble opinion is that this University of Lagos should be drawn into the murky waters of Nigerian politics. Besides if proper consultations of with all the stake holders were undertaken before the change was announced I doubt that we would witness the kind of demonstration and outpouring of anger among the various stake holder who have already voiced their regret over the change and urged its reversal. I believe that, were chief M.K.O. Abiola  to be alive today, he would like late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who in 1986, rejected such an honour after University of Nigeria was renamed after him, do the same thing. This is really a disservice to the  memory of Chief Abiola, because the last thing anybody should do is to drag his name to the mud after he had lived his life and earned his image as a great philanthropist and businessman; democracy Icon and a pillar of sports in Africa. everyone is I spoken to is agreeable to having an appropriate honour done to the memory of M.K.O. Abiola. There is no reason why anybody should choose to paint Abiola as a controversial figure after his death. As I write this the Alumni, ASUU, and the non- Academic staff members of the University have all rejected  this sudden change of name. From available information the Senate of the may follow suit as many senior professors in the university have also voiced their opposition to this change. The university does not belong to members of the Federal Executive Council but to all its stake holders who ought to have been properly consulted. The name University of Lagos, symbolizes all its past achievement and and its present standing in international education sector. It is what it is today, partly because of what itself good name brings to it. I am also talking in terms of what image the numerous people across the world have about the university and its graduates over the years. The name change make a mess of the efforts of the past years to build a brand that is capable of  attracting national and international goodwill the every university so very much deserves. The name change takes the university back to the level of new universities in Nigeria that are still struggling to find their feet both in terms of track record of academic standards, quality of learning and level of human resources development, as it will now be faced with the unenviable task of convincing the public that the name change should not affect its image and integrity. The track record of any university includes its name and is part of what attracts quality academics and students to it. But the question should therefore be asked : "What was wrong with the name University of Lagos that warranted a desperate desire to change it or reposition the university?'.   If it is just a change of name, do you change a good name which any institution has built without hurting that institution or truncating its past glory standing a risk of reversing its progress?

--- On Tue, 5/29/12, Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 7:07 AM

[Ikhide]

This the time to ask the icons and leaders of the prodemocracy movement, Professors Wole Soyinka, Olusola Adeyeye and Mobolaji Aluko, what do they think of UNILAG's name change? Is this their idea of how Chief MKO Abiola should be immortalized? By the drunken force of fiat? Is this what they fought for? They should not be silent. They should please speak up and assure us that this is the way to go, that this is how MKO Abiola would have wanted it.

The silence of the prodemocracy movement is deafening and embarrassing. Animal Farm did not look this bad.

- Ikhide

---

From: Professor Ayandiji Daniel Aina <diji...@yahoo.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 13:05:59 -0700 (PDT)

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Cc: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

[danoyeo...@yahoo.com]

Maureen, kudos to you for this post. It will go a long way to tell the yet unborn that some of us are not fooled by political monguls like MKO who amassed wealth in questionable way and reinvested in the same society in many sectors. Today we celebrate MKO as political hero. But we fail to remember his roles in the political melee that greeted the election process that consumed the like of Ya Adua and Iwuayanwun. Let GEJ do what he like to seek popularity afterall 2015 is around the corner. Laguda
Sent from my Nokia phone

-----Original Message-----
From: Eke, Maureen Ngozi
Sent: 29/05/2012, 22:16
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

Ok, you my brothers and sisters, you have lost me here. So, I must be out of the loop when it comes to some of these recent Nigerian political narratives. What exactly did Abiola do besides contesting the elections that makes him a hero? How did he promote democratic processes in Nigeria before his involvement in the ugly political tussle that may have cost him his life? Some of you speak of philanthropy, who did he really help? I can understand renaming these institutions to honor those earlier nation builders who actually were in the trenches trying to dig us out of the grips of those colonialists. But, for these new leaders-wanna-be? I would say absolutely no honoring. They have failed Us! If I had a choice I would have renamed the University for Mrs. Kuti, who actually waged war against the Brits, before MKO Abiola. If you are having a difficult time convincing me of Abiola's significance besides amassing a lot of wealth on the backs of Nigerians and contesting elections against his former cronies, then, you have miracles to work to convince the students on the ground who are affected by the name change.

Just recently, I read or heard somewhere that a Mr. B, former president of the Nigerian Senate, hijacked or liberated about $64b, money that belongs to us. The nation watched while the elder B, I am told, bragged that nobody would touch or prosecute his son. I would not be surprised if ten years from now a new President or politician, whose palms have been well-oiled by the Bs, renames a university to honor father and son for "promoting progress" in Nigeria. Please tell me a new story! I vote for those students. They have their heads on right!

Maureen N. Eke, PHD
Professor of English
AN 240
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
Direct: 989-774-1087
Main: 989-774-3171
Fax: 989-773-1271

Email: eke...@cmich.edu<mailto:eke...@cmich.edu> or Maure...@cmich.edu<mailto:Maure...@cmich.edu>

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of odigwe nwaokocha
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 3:22 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

Those who are protesting the change of name are showing gross disrespect to one of modern Nigeria's truely great and remarkable men. What a pity!

Odigwe A. Nwaokocha
Department of History and International Studies
University of Benin
Benin City, Nigeria.
________________________________
From: Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 7:46 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

The State of Lagos as the most progressive State in the federation was as we all know, the battlefield for the restoration of that mandate; it is important to consider democratic protocols and the politics involved, I think, nonetheless, it is deserving, just as i believe renaming the University of Ife to acknowledge Awolowo's vision of enlightenment. Zik on his part got what he deserved, the politics he played with the name "The University of Nigeria" came back to become his nemesis!

Bode

On May 29, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Kunle Lawal <kunlel...@yahoo.com<mailto:kunlel...@yahoo.com>> wrote:
I completely disagree with my own brother, Wole Atere, on this issue. I am wondering if the ideal honour to the memory of Chief M.K.O. Abiola should not have been the renaming of the troublesome University of Abuja to Moshood Kashimawo Abiola University. Perhaps if this had been the case, the case may have been made, properly, for acknowledging the Pan-Nigerian mandate which the late Chief Abiola clearly won and for which he paid the supreme price. After all, the University of Abuja would have made it clear and beyond reasonable doubts, too, that President Jonathan is desirous of a lasting solution to the challenge of the most appropriate national monument to the man whose single-minded sacrifice brought about the present democratic dispensation. Certainly, it will be the day when President Jonathan brings Goodluck to his administration when he openly reverses himself on this clearly unpopular step. I want to appeal to him to do something unexpected for a change!

The last word : I waant to appeal to President Jonathan not to allow the joke that the Great University of Ibadan will be renamed Lamidi adedibu University.

Professor Olakunle A. Lawal
Department of History
University of Ibadan
IBADAn - NIGERIA

________________________________

From: "wolea...@yahoo.com<mailto:wolea...@yahoo.com>" <wolea...@yahoo.com<mailto:wolea...@yahoo.com>>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, 29 May 2012, 17:36
Subject: Re: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

I have watched with interest, the views expressed on this matter. Dare I say at the risk of voicing a minority view that it is a needless protest. Like someone wrote, this is NOT the first nor will it be the last time a University would be renamed. Several people had expressed misgivings about the non-recognition of the hero that the Late Abiola was in the development of democracy in Nigeria. Now that it has come, it is being greeted with protest Perhaps we require a reminder that the affected University is funded by the Federal Government symbolised by President Goodluck Jonathan. In any case, the other University that would have been focused is the Federal University, Abeokuta. My suspicion is that it is being reserved for former President Obasanjo, when he eventually passes on. As for the Senate of the University, no Senate that understands the workings of government owned University will make such an issue a matter for Senate debate. I admonish 'the stakeholders' in the University to prevent an avoidable crisis by accepting the change as inevitable, after all change is the only permanent phenomenon in life. Meanwhile, kudos to Mr President. Adewole Atere, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology. Osun State University

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
________________________________

From: chukwuma adilieje <chum...@yahoo.com<mailto:chum...@yahoo.com>>
Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 08:59:08 -0700 (PDT)

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>>
ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: chuma<chum...@yahoo.com<mailto:chum...@yahoo.com>>

Subject: Fw: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

Femi My brother, you are quite right there. It appears to me that politics was the overriding consideration in the decision to rename the University after the Late M.K.O. Abiola of blessed memory, should not have been so. My humble opinion is that this University of Lagos should be drawn into the murky waters of Nigerian politics. Besides if proper consultations of with all the stake holders were undertaken before the change was announced I doubt that we would witness the kind of demonstration and outpouring of anger among the various stake holder who have already voiced their regret over the change and urged its reversal. I believe that, were chief M.K.O. Abiola to be alive today, he would like late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who in 1986, rejected such an honour after University of Nigeria was renamed after him, do the same thing. This is really a disservice to the memory of Chief Abiola, because the last thing anybody should do is to drag his name to the mud after he had lived his life and earned his image as a great philanthropist and businessman; democracy Icon and a pillar of sports in Africa. everyone is I spoken to is agreeable to having an appropriate honour done to the memory of M.K.O. Abiola. There is no reason why anybody should choose to paint Abiola as a controversial figure after his death. As I write this the Alumni, ASUU, and the non- Academic staff members of the University have all rejected this sudden change of name. From available information the Senate of the may follow suit as many senior professors in the university have also voiced their opposition to this change. The university does not belong to members of the Federal Executive Council but to all its stake holders who ought to have been properly consulted. The name University of Lagos, symbolizes all its past achievement and and its present standing in international education sector. It is what it is today, partly because of what itself good name brings to it. I am also talking in terms of what image the numerous people across the world have about the university and its graduates over the years. The name change make a mess of the efforts of the past years to build a brand that is capable of attracting national and international goodwill the every university so very much deserves. The name change takes the university back to the level of new universities in Nigeria that are still struggling to find their feet both in terms of track record of academic standards, quality of learning and level of human resources development, as it will now be faced with the unenviable task of convincing the public that the name change should not affect its image and integrity. The track record of any university includes its name and is part of what attracts quality academics and students to it. But the question should therefore be asked : "What was wrong with the name University of Lagos that warranted a desperate desire to change it or reposition the university?'. If it is just a change of name, do you change a good name which any institution has built without hurting that institution or truncating its past glory standing a risk of reversing its progress?

--- On Tue, 5/29/12, Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com<mailto:fj_k...@hotmail.com>> wrote:

From: Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com<mailto:fj_k...@hotmail.com>>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 7:07 AM
I doubt that most students will question whether late Abiola deserves national honor. The question rather is whether students (and alumni) and the community were taken into partnership in the decision to change the name of their school. Did government envisage that students and other interested parties may have views and opinions that required discussions and negotiations before such decision was made?
Another way to look at it is to ask whether another king could tomorrow ascend to our authoritarian throne and arbitrarily decide that the name of the university should be changed again to Wok & Chop University?
Democracy and respect of the citizen by the government goes beyond the ballot box transaction. Relationship between Nigeria,together with its governments and its young (beginning from elementary school level) should model respect and democracy.
f.j. kolapo
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

> To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
> From: oreli...@yahoo.com<mailto:oreli...@yahoo.com>

> Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 12:02:32 +0000
>
> It is disheartening to find the students of the University of Lagos now Moshood Abiola University protesting due to the fact that the President of the federation honoured the late Abiola. Why are they protesting? That's my question. They have portrayed irresponsible character of themselves and showed that they have not been fully educated,which have amounted to their gross ignorance of what they should do instead.

> Sent from my BlackBerry(r) wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

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[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

What has Abiola really achieved to merit this university being named after him?

Abiola is not in the class of Awo or Zik, with whom he is now being compared.

Awo is the ideological father of South West Nigerian developmental vision, a vision that has shaped indelibly the socio-economic landscape of the South West and Nigeria, a vision that remains a national point of reference.

Zik was a Pan-Africanist, an inspiration to African nationalists beyond Nigeria, an icon of the early struggles to define the direction of Nigerian politics in a trans-ethnic direction, a key figure in the eventual reintegration of Biafra back into Nigeria in the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War and an architect of educational development in  South Eastern Nigeria, a vision that has impacted immeasurably on the nation and the world through the achievements of the University of Nsukka.

Awo and Zik were both successful businessmen.

Abioa is best known as a businessman with an imposing presence in the Nigerian economy and a man cheated of a Presidential mandate, a struggle for which he eventually paid with his life.

Many died to protest the loss of that mandate. We are still struggling with the bitter fruits of that loss, which set us back at least a decade, if not more.

Abiola's name is not associated with the creation and actualization of an ideological vision, like those of Zik and Awo. So they are not equatable at all.

Abiola's primary public achievement was in business. He was therefore a capitalist whose primary goal was the maximization of profit, not the idealistic, self transcending visions of an Awo or a Zik.

Yes, he fought courageously for and paid with his life for a his stolen Presidential mandate.

That achievement, though, is not significant enough to warrant giving his name to one of the most venerable universities in Nigeria, an institution in whose life he played no role in, to the best of my knowledge.

It is more fitting to create a national holiday in his name and institute  national  ceremonies on that day , so that the democratic ideal he fought for should be commemorated in the time cycle of the nation in a way that will continually recall that great struggle of Abiola's in people's minds.

thanks

toyin

[Olabode Ibironke]

Abiola led the pro-democracy forces to challenge military rule just as Zik and Awo mobilized against colonial rule.

[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

Ibironke,

I admire your pro-Abiola argument but tyou seem to be overstretching your case. I might also be ignorant of the significance of Abiola's total achievement.

But let us look at the scales in  comparing Abiola with the related political icons, Awo and Zik.

You, Chukwuma and Ayo earlier summed up what Abiola means in  politics, philanthropy, and education:

Politics

'I think the end of dreadful military dictatorship and the advent of the longest period of democratic rule can be directly attributed to the titanic struggle of MKO. For this alone, Abiola has in my estimation risen to the status of Zik, Awolowo etc.

tell me why those individual politicians deserve a greater recognition in our democracy?

It would be ironic if the only people we consider worthy of national honor are only those who fought against colonial rule. Those who fought military dictatorship in my time are as much deserving as military rule has proven to be lethal in some instances.

The State of Lagos as the most progressive State in the federation was as we all know, the battlefield for the restoration of that mandate; it is important to consider democratic protocols and the politics involved, I think, nonetheless, it is deserving, just as i believe renaming the University of Ife to acknowledge Awolowo's vision of enlightenment.

Part of our national debate will remain who our heroes are and how we honor them.'

Philanthropy in Education and Sports

'He has also given more money to universities in Nigeria and Africa than most international organizations, and any other individual.'

Chukwuma Adilieje - 'This is really a disservice to the  memory of Chief Abiola, because the last thing anybody should do is to drag his name to the mud after he had lived his life and earned his image as a great philanthropist and businessman; democracy Icon and a pillar of sports in Africa.'   

Ayo Obe -What MKO was known for was his support for sports, a support which - through the Youth Sports Federation Of Nigeria (YSFON) - earned him the title 'Pillar of Sports in Africa'.


I doubt if the Abiola inspired democracy  struggle is of the same calibre and effect in Nigeria as the struggle for Nigerian independence.

The Abiola inspired democracy  struggle, alone, cannot place Abiola with Awo and Zik.

Is there  evidence of the political and social philosophy of Abiola, as there is of  Awo and Zik?

One can speak of Awiosm, a very real socio-political  and economic legacy, even though I have not seen that term being used,  or of Zikisim. It is possible to easily construct a profile of an Awoist or a Zikist or of a structure of ideas that one can study and perhaps emulate in the writings of these men, and to some degree, in their efforts to actualize these visions.

They are political thinkers. No study of Nigerian and perhaps African political philosophy is possible without including their contributions and its impact.

These men were also professional politicians, engaged in the Nigerian struggle as the defining feature of their adult lives. Their personal histories and that of Nigerian politics pre and post-colonial, run in tandem. The genesis and features of major Nigerian political parties bear their imprint and that of Awo remains shining in South West and national politics as a beacon to which people have aspired, but which  but it seems they have not really reached, in the foundational sense in which it seems Awo and his comrades established   modern South West political economy.

That level of achievement at this point in Nigerian history  will imply a fundamental recreation of social services to Nigerians and Nigerian politicians do not seem ready for that.

Abiola, on the other hand, came to political prominence  after establishing his central career in business.

Abiola came to the forefront in Nigerian  politics in taking advantage of an artificial, unvisionary political process, which his victory and struggle for his stolen mandate nevertheless transformed into a symbol of the possibilities of genuine nationwide democracy of popular acclaim across all ethnic regions.

Kudirat Abiola, his wife, other martyrs and heroes of that struggle are central to the country's legacy of selfless struggle.

But is that achievement equatable to the decades long struggles of an Awo or a Zik?

thanks

toyin

[Ayo Obe]

Let me add, with respect to the expression "Abiola inspired democracy struggle" that on the contrary, the fact that Abiola was the beneficiary of the staged and manipulated Babangida transition to civil rule programme actually divided the pro-democracy struggle between those who wanted a Sovereign National Conference, and those who insisted "On June 12th we stand".  Campaign for Democracy, which had been formed to see an end to military rule well before June 12th, was a major victim of this split.

It took a great deal of patient work and negotiation before a consensus was formed around a struggle for the actualisation of Abiola's mandate on condition that he would immediately convene a SNC, but the success of these discussions produced United Action for Democracy.  UAD immediately began to have an effect with the calling of the counter-demonstration to Abacha's Two Million March in Abuja, with our own Five Million March in Lagos, followed by May 1st protests in Ibadan which showed the Nigerian people ready to face Abacha's guns.  Shortly thereafter Abacha had a heart attack and died.

Abiola was probably more central to NADECO's pro-democracy activities, but after the assassination of Kudirat Abiola, its activities inside Nigeria (there certainly seemed to be more going on outside the country) were defined by the 'siddon look' philosophy, but while I was directly involved in the formation of UAD, my involvement with NADECO was limited.

One might say that both tendencies were important in the pro-democracy struggle, but the 'siddon look' tendency was still pronounced enough that when I arrived at the zonal hearing arranged by the Abdulsalami regime to sound the pulse on whether or not to continue with the Abacha transition programme, I found that while those such as General Adebayo - whose son was poised to become a governor under that programme - were speaking in favour of continuation, NADECO leaders present had not spoken "because this is a rented crowd".  Given the opportunity to speak, and reasoning that there was nothing to be ashamed of if a rented crowd shouted one down, I spoke against the continuation and received such massive applause that 'siddon look' was abandoned and I remember Senator Abraham Adesanya speaking with eloquence & passion in a speech laden with Yoruba proverbs and Shakespeare quotations that effectively buried the Abacha transition.  And gave us, er, what we have now!

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

[Olabode Ibironke]

By the way, this thing about consultation: Here in New Jersey, the Governor and one or two individuals decided to merge Rutgers and the New Jersey University of Medicine and Dentistry, and Rutgers-Camden with Rowan University; the Rowan people, "stakeholders" are screaming and kicking: they argue they are much better off remaining small, their diligently cultivated name brand over decades and special mission etc. but the process is moving along with speed in spite of their protestations. Though I do not recommend nor support it, Executive power functions as well in democracies through acts of fiat or what they famously call "executive order", it is NOT an aberration within the democratic process; that some are speaking out against Jonathan's proclamation, that the students are protesting etc might lead to a reversal of action, and that is one way democracy works its course. Jonathan's action is still consistent with the prerogatives of the state and executive power in a democracy; agreed that in this case it may not be the most popular or prudent.

You left out Abiola's work on reparations and pan-Africanism. Ask Ali Mazrui, Wole Soyinka, and folks at the defunct Organization for African Unity etc. I will place Adekunle Fajuyi among the pantheon of National heroes along with Awo and Zik. You see my logic? What they each do does not have to correspond piece-a-piece but they are all extra-ordinary patriots, flawed some of them may be!

Bode 

[okello oculi]

Ndugu Tade Aina,

MKO Abiola carried a big load  into that collective ancestral territory that Professor Ali A. Mazrui has called "After-Africa". He it was that lined up Africa's brain galaxy (which included the likes of Professors Ade Ajayi and Ali A. Mazrui) to prepare a war plan for waging the global diplomatic game of demanding REPARATIONS for that notorious GENOCIDE known as the "slave trade into the Americas". Professor Ali Mazrui would come under heavy harassment for daring to assert that more Africans were killed through the hell of crossing the Atlantic Ocean than the number of Jews killed by Adolph Hitler and his collaborators. By association, Abiola was on a deadly mission and was willing to put his wealth into financing it. On May 25, 2012 South Africa hosted 34 African Presidents and hundreds of delegates from the African Diaspora in what was called a "Global Diaspora Conference". Abiola would have called up Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Oliver Tambo, Mwalimu Nyerere, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Haile Sellaise, Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral, Martin Luther King - the list goes on - to join him in hearing the dialogue that was going on down there in South Africa.

Abiola also carried in his travel bag a political jersey on which was written  "Nigeria June 12, 1993". Those who like tampering with history - for effect- have claimed that he won an election which was the "freest and fairest" in Nigeria's history. Such history ignores the fact that the referee of the election had "BANNED" various waves of political ambitions. First to go were those who had played party politics from the 1950s to 1983. Then came the 1992 Adamu Ciroma, Shehu Musa Yar'Adua,  finalists in the National Republican Congress and the Social Democratic Party, respectively. In between these two officially imposed parties,socialist parties like the Unity Party of Nigeria and the Peoples Republican Party had been chased off the arena by being made to lie on the same bed as those Chef Bola Ige gladly called "leprous fingers". To call any election that came onto this deforested arena the "freest and fairest" is openly cynical. The dialectical good that crawled out of this dung-heap was a determination by a vast Nigerian (namely across both North and South, Christian and Muslim) political community to vote for the MKO Abiola- Babagana Kingibe ALL-MOSLEM ticket. It was as if they were mocking manipulators of their wishes for change and progress. Abiola had benefited from the birth of a new political nation. He did not create it but he dared to ride the convulsions of that moment of birth. In that he beat the cowardly French revolutionary politicians who Karl Marx mocked in his book "The Eighteenth Brumaire".

Both of the above narratives deserve our celebration. That protesting students of the University of Lagos (now Moshood Abiola University) have not hugged them is evidence of the crime against their hearts and minds by  school syllabuses that exclude the subject of History from Nigeria's schools. For, as another rebel politicians had once said,"they know not what they do".

It is time to urge those in Nigeria's Diaspora to dig out from American and world histories knowledge that will nourish their intellectual malnutrition.

Okello Oculi

Africa Vision 525 Initiative

Abuja, Nigeria.

---

From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinv...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 5:20 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

[Ikhide]

Dear Professor Aluko,

 

Many thanks for your swift response. I have of course posted it on my blog, Twitter and on Facebook. So that the world may know...

 

Here:

 

My respects always!

 

- Ikhide

 

Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com

Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide

Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide

From: Mobolaji ALUKO <alu...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com; Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com>
Cc: naijap...@yahoogroups.com; naijaintellects <naijain...@googlegroups.com>; "niger...@yahoogroups.com" <niger...@yahoogroups.com>; OmoOdua <Omo...@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 2:51 AM
Subject: Re:Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

Ikhide "Towncrier" Ikheloa:

You dey find trouble as usual.....

Since you ask, this is/are my opinion/s as a June 12 pro-democrat of
yore and present Vice-Chancellor of a federal Nigerian university (at
Otuoke) with respect of the change of UniLag to MA(L)U:

1.  as a VC, I would have expected to be consulted by my Visitor at
the very least, together with my Senate, student body, alumni, and
especially Governing Council.  [The current VC of UniLag, having just
died recently - and to be buried tomorrow, with burial rites
throughout this week - I would have waited on ANY announcement
relative to UniLag until the mourning period is over, and certainly
acknowledged the passing in the same speech.]  See October 1, 2011
announcement of change of FUTY to MAUTECH below for example, one of
eight (of the 37) federal universities currently named after
"important personalities"  (see
http://www.nuc.edu.ng/pages/universities.asp?ty=1&order=inst_name&page=1),
with ABU being the oldest (1962).  There are 9 out of 37 such-named
state universities.

2.  in the Democracy Day 2012 Speech, I would merely have ANNOUNCED
the possibility of naming one of the federal universities (not
necessarily UniLag, which has no unique relationship with MKO - not
being an alum, or founder or major benefactor, etc. -  as a PROPOSAL
to be considered more democratically.  Maybe the stakeholders of one
of the universities - including maybe one of the new ones - would have
enthusiastically raised their hands.  It appears that is what happened
for FUTY to MAUTECH; again see below.

3. in addition to the above, in the time being, I would have named
Abuja Stadium after MKO, and June 12 a Democracy Heroes national
public holiday - although it is rather too close to May 29, in which
case I might have boldly sacrificed May 29.  The long-overdue honor
due MKO, arguably a Sacrificial Father of Modern-Day Democracy in
Nigeria  - should not be made to contribute any further divisiveness
in the already "heated Nigerian polity" - as the Nigerian saying goes.


Of course, I am not President GEJ, so those are my views, and yours
are welcome.  There is still much time however, for presidential
revision of priors.

And there you have it....'Nuff said.  I hope that you are not longer
deaf from silence from me.





Bolaji Aluko


QUOTE

http://mautech.edu.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=50

CHANGE OF NAME OF THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, YOLA TO
MODIBBO ADAMA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, YOLA

The Vice – Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Yola
Professor Bashir Haruna Usman, on behalf of the Council, Senate,
Staff, Students and the University Community, wishes to bring to the
notice of the general public, sister Federal, State and Privately
owned Institutions, Public Parastatals, Private Corporate bodies as
well as all friends and business partners of the University, that in
the tradition of immortalising important personalities and historian
of great repute, the President and commander in Chief of the Armed
Forces, Federal Republic of Nigerian Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,
GCFR, has approved the change of name of the University from: FEDERAL
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, YOLA (FUTY) to MODIBBO ADAMA UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY, YOLA (MAUTECH, YOLA), supposedly named after Modibbo Adama
Ibn Hassan, a great scholar, an erudite educationist, an outstanding
leader and the founder of the Fombina Kingdom (Now Adamawa Emirate
Council). As the first ruler and founder of the Emirate, Modibbo Adama
Ibn Hassan (1809 -1847) was one of the disciples and flag bearers of
Sheikh Usman Ibn Fodio of the Sokoto Caliphate. By this therefore, the
general public is enjoined to note the new name of the University and
be informed that all former documents and correspondences bearing
Federal University of Technology, Yola remain valid, and the change of
name takes effect from 1st October, 2011.

Signed

Alh. Ahmed Usman W/Chekke

Registrar

UNQUOTE

On 5/30/12, Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> This the time to ask the icons and leaders of the prodemocracy movement,
> Professors Wole Soyinka, Olusola Adeyeye and Mobolaji Aluko, what do they
> think of UNILAG's name change? Is this their idea of how Chief MKO Abiola
> should be immortalized? By the drunken force of fiat? Is this what they
> fought for? They should not be silent. They should please speak up and
> assure us that this is the way to go, that this is how MKO Abiola would have
> wanted it.
>
> The silence of the prodemocracy movement is deafening and embarrassing.
> Animal Farm did not look this bad.
>
> - Ikhide
>

> From: "wolea...@yahoo.com" <wolea...@yahoo.com>
> To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, 29 May 2012, 17:36
> Subject: Re: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the
> new re-named school-MAU
>
> I have watched with interest, the views expressed on this matter. Dare I say
> at the risk of voicing a minority view that it is a needless protest. Like
> someone wrote, this is NOT the first nor will it be the last time a
> University would be renamed. Several people had expressed misgivings about
> the non-recognition of the hero that the Late Abiola was in the development
> of democracy in Nigeria. Now that it has come, it is being greeted with
> protest. Perhaps we require a reminder that the affected University is
> funded by the Federal Government symbolised by President Goodluck Jonathan.
> In any case, the other University that would have been focused is the
> Federal University, Abeokuta. My suspicion is that it is being reserved for
> former President Obasanjo, when he eventually passes on. As for the Senate
> of the University, no Senate that understands the workings of government
> owned University will make such an issue a matter for Senate debate. I
> admonish 'the
>  stakeholders' in the University to prevent an avoidable crisis by accepting
> the change as inevitable, after all change is the only permanent phenomenon
> in life. Meanwhile, kudos to Mr President. Adewole Atere, Ph.D. Associate
> Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology. Osun State University
> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

[Chidi Anthony Opara]

"This the time to ask the icons and leaders of the prodemocracy movement, Professors Wole Soyinka, Olusola Adeyeye and Mobolaji Aluko, what do they think of UNILAG's name change? Is this their idea of how Chief MKO Abiola should be immortalized? By the drunken force of fiat? Is this what they fought for? They should not be silent. They should please speak up and assure us that this is the way to go, that this is how MKO Abiola would have wanted it.

The silence of the prodemocracy movement is deafening and embarrassing. Animal Farm did not look this bad".
- Ikhide

The aforementioned names were fringe pro-democracy activists, the real activists; Chima Ubani, Gani Fawehinmi, et al fought here in Nigeria not from the comfort of European and American cities. By the way, this Abiola saga to me is a non issue. The man was brought into the fray(1993 Presidential election) by his military President friend to prevent the emergence of the Independent minded and influential Shehu Yar' Adua.

while the fight to "reclaim June 12" was going on, Abiola, Beko Kuti and the other so called pro-democracy activists were negotiating with Sani Abacha, who betrayed them later. So the renewed agitations were a fallout of this betrayal.

For me, President Jonathan can go ahead and name Aso Rock after Lawrence Anini, the executed armed robbery kingpin. I do not care, it is part of the contradictions of this contraption called Nigeria. In saner climes, A square in an obscure town would not be named after some of the names we parade here as heroes.

-----CAO.

 

Publisher At PublicInformationProjects

---

From: Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com>
To: "USAAfric...@googlegroups.com" <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 12:40 AM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

unsub...@googlegroups.com --

[shina7...@yahoo.com]

Sir, you captured the real issue, especially with this statement: "Abiola came to the forefront in Nigerian  politics in taking advantage of an artificial, unvisionary political process, which his victory and struggle for his stolen mandate nevertheless transformed into a symbol of the possibilities of genuine nationwide democracy of popular acclaim across all ethnic regions."

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

---

From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinv...@gmail.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Wed, 30 May 2012 06:49:03 +0100

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

[shina7...@yahoo.com]

Please, let's ask the BIG question: Who are the heroes in Nigeria's national development? Awolowo? Zik? Sardauna? MKO? Who? First place you should look for answer: Achebe's The Trouble with Nigeria and Chinweizu's Black Colonialists: the root of the trouble with Nigeria.

Adeshina Afolayan

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

---

From: "Ikhide" <xok...@yahoo.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 23:40:07 +0000

To: USAAfric...@googlegroups.com<USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

At the risk of talking too much,  Ithink it is inaccurate to simply describe Abiola as 'the beneficiary of the staged and manipulated Babangida transition to civil rule programme '

It was staged and manipulated in terms of the artificial creation of two political parties by head of state Babangida,  but the voting was real, fair and wondrous  in demonstrating Nigerian unity in such a remarkable manner for the first time in the nation's history.

A broad spectrum of Nigerians  took the process very seriously and this seriousness, this faith in its possibilities, was what inspired  the national outcry over annulment of the election.

In fact, that annulment by a military regime of a nationally popular election may be described as the beginning of the end of the mystique of military rule in Nigerian, an end that was consummated  by the brazen horror of Abacha who took advantage of the vacuum enabled by the annulment to seize power.

thanks

toyin

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 7:53 AM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com> wrote:

Beautiful summation from Ayo Obe, though I dont know the story at that level.

For those who dont understand Nigerian pidgin English 'siddon look' means 'Sit Down and Look' a policy of complacent  attention in which one takes no action, distancing  oneself from being an active stakeholder,  while simply watching the development of a situation.

toyin

[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

Beautiful summation from Ayo Obe, though I dont know the story at that level.

For those who dont understand Nigerian pidgin English 'siddon look' means 'Sit Down and Look' a policy of complacent  attention in which one takes no action, distancing  oneself from being an active stakeholder,  while simply watching the development of a situation.

toyin

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 7:38 AM, Ayo Obe <ayo.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Mobolaji ALUKO]

On 5/30/12, Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> This the time to ask the icons and leaders of the prodemocracy movement,
> Professors Wole Soyinka, Olusola Adeyeye and Mobolaji Aluko, what do they
> think of UNILAG's name change? Is this their idea of how Chief MKO Abiola
> should be immortalized? By the drunken force of fiat? Is this what they
> fought for? They should not be silent. They should please speak up and
> assure us that this is the way to go, that this is how MKO Abiola would have
> wanted it.
>
> The silence of the prodemocracy movement is deafening and embarrassing.
> Animal Farm did not look this bad.
>
> - Ikhide
>

> From: "wolea...@yahoo.com" <wolea...@yahoo.com>
> To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, 29 May 2012, 17:36
> Subject: Re: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the
> new re-named school-MAU
>
> I have watched with interest, the views expressed on this matter. Dare I say
> at the risk of voicing a minority view that it is a needless protest. Like
> someone wrote, this is NOT the first nor will it be the last time a
> University would be renamed. Several people had expressed misgivings about
> the non-recognition of the hero that the Late Abiola was in the development
> of democracy in Nigeria. Now that it has come, it is being greeted with
> protest. Perhaps we require a reminder that the affected University is
> funded by the Federal Government symbolised by President Goodluck Jonathan.
> In any case, the other University that would have been focused is the
> Federal University, Abeokuta. My suspicion is that it is being reserved for
> former President Obasanjo, when he eventually passes on. As for the Senate
> of the University, no Senate that understands the workings of government
> owned University will make such an issue a matter for Senate debate. I
> admonish 'the
> stakeholders' in the University to prevent an avoidable crisis by accepting
> the change as inevitable, after all change is the only permanent phenomenon
> in life. Meanwhile, kudos to Mr President. Adewole Atere, Ph.D. Associate
> Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology. Osun State University
> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

[Tade Aina]

My Brother Okello:

I am in complete agreement with you.  My respect and admiration for the contributions and struggles(yes, struggles) of the late bashorun MKO remain undiluted. his contributions were many and indeed to education and scholarship too. It is not about whether he deserves to have a university named after him. I have no doubts that his memory deserves to be honored. But MKO should not be reduced to a sub-national or ethnic  symbol. He is a national and pan-African symbol.

And maybe afterall the unintended consequence of what I see as this political "sleight of hand "is the revisiting of the qualities of our national s/heroes.

It is also the need  to have our stories told, so that every generation of ours does not think the struggle started with them.

Thank you for your reminders so well put.

-taa.

From: okello oculi <okell...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 5:31 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

Ndugu Tade Aina,

MKO Abiola carried a big load  into that collective ancestral territory that Professor Ali A. Mazrui has called "After-Africa". He it was that lined up Africa's brain galaxy (which included the likes of Professors Ade Ajayi and Ali A. Mazrui) to prepare a war plan for waging the global diplomatic game of demanding REPARATIONS for that notorious GENOCIDE known as the "slave trade into the Americas". Professor Ali Mazrui would come under heavy harassment for daring to assert that more Africans were killed through the hell of crossing the Atlantic Ocean than the number of Jews killed by Adolph Hitler and his collaborators. By association, Abiola was on a deadly mission and was willing to put his wealth into financing it. On May 25, 2012 South Africa hosted 34 African Presidents and hundreds of delegates from the African Diaspora in what was called a "Global Diaspora Conference". Abiola would have called up Kwame Nkrumah, W.E.B Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Oliver Tambo, Mwalimu Nyerere, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Haile Sellaise, Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral, Martin Luther King - the list goes on - to join him in hearing the dialogue that was going on down there in South Africa.

Abiola also carried in his travel bag a political jersey on which was written  "Nigeria June 12, 1993". Those who like tampering with history - for effect- have claimed that he won an election which was the "freest and fairest" in Nigeria's history. Such history ignores the fact that the referee of the election had "BANNED" various waves of political ambitions. First to go were those who had played party politics from the 1950s to 1983. Then came the 1992 Adamu Ciroma, Shehu Musa Yar'Adua,  finalists in the National Republican Congress and the Social Democratic Party, respectively. In between these two officially imposed parties,socialist parties like the Unity Party of Nigeria and the Peoples Republican Party had been chased off the arena by being made to lie on the same bed as those Chef Bola Ige gladly called "leprous fingers". To call any election that came onto this deforested arena the "freest and fairest" is openly cynical. The dialectical good that crawled out of this dung-heap was a determination by a vast Nigerian (namely across both North and South, Christian and Muslim) political community to vote for the MKO Abiola- Babagana Kingibe ALL-MOSLEM ticket. It was as if they were mocking manipulators of their wishes for change and progress. Abiola had benefited from the birth of a new political nation. He did not create it but he dared to ride the convulsions of that moment of birth. In that he beat the cowardly French revolutionary politicians who Karl Marx mocked in his book "The Eighteenth Brumaire".

Both of the above narratives deserve our celebration. That protesting students of the University of Lagos (now Moshood Abiola University) have not hugged them is evidence of the crime against their hearts and minds by  school syllabuses that exclude the subject of History from Nigeria's schools. For, as another rebel politicians had once said,"they know not what they do".

It is time to urge those in Nigeria's Diaspora to dig out from American and world histories knowledge that will nourish their intellectual malnutrition.

Okello Oculi

Africa Vision 525 Initiative

Abuja, Nigeria.

From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinv...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 5:20 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

What has Abiola really achieved to merit this university being named after him?Abiola is not in the class of Awo or Zik, with whom he is now being compared.Awo is the ideological father of South West Nigerian developmental vision, a vision that has shaped indelibly the socio-economic landscape of the South West and Nigeria, a vision that remains a national point of reference.Zik was a Pan-Africanist, an inspiration to African nationalists beyond Nigeria, an icon of the early struggles to define the direction of Nigerian politics in a trans-ethnic direction, a key figure in the eventual reintegration of Biafra back into Nigeria in the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War and an architect of educational development in  South Eastern Nigeria, a vision that has impacted immeasurably on the nation and the world through the achievements of the University of Nsukka.Awo and Zik were both successful businessmen.Abioa is best known as a businessman with an imposing presence in the Nigerian economy and a man cheated of a Presidential mandate, a struggle for which he eventually paid with his life.Many died to protest the loss of that mandate. We are still struggling with the bitter fruits of that loss, which set us back at least a decade, if not more.Abiola's name is not associated with the creation and actualization of an ideological vision, like those of Zik and Awo. So they are not equatable at all.Abiola's primary public achievement was in business. He was therefore a capitalist whose primary goal was the maximization of profit, not the idealistic, self transcending visions of an Awo or a Zik.Yes, he fought courageously for and paid with his life for a his stolen Presidential mandate.That achievement, though, is not significant enough to warrant giving his name to one of the most venerable universities in Nigeria, an institution in whose life he played no role in, to the best of my knowledge.It is more fitting to create a national holiday in his name and institute  national  ceremonies on that day , so that the democratic ideal he fought for should be commemorated in the time cycle of the nation in a way that will continually recall that great struggle of Abiola's in people's minds.thankstoyin

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 12:40 AM, Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com> wrote:

This the time to ask the icons and leaders of the prodemocracy movement, Professors Wole Soyinka, Olusola Adeyeye and Mobolaji Aluko, what do they think of UNILAG's name change? Is this their idea of how Chief MKO Abiola should be immortalized? By the drunken force of fiat? Is this what they fought for? They should not be silent. They should please speak up and assure us that this is the way to go, that this is how MKO Abiola would have wanted it. The silence of the prodemocracy movement is deafening and embarrassing. Animal Farm did not look this bad. - Ikhide

From: Professor Ayandiji Daniel Aina <diji...@yahoo.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 13:05:59 -0700 (PDT)

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Cc: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

The cacophony of voices dishonorable of the one who gave his life for others to live will soon  fade away. If the great University of Ife became Obafemi Awolowo University, I do not see the reason why the University of Lagos or the great University of Ibadan can not wear MKO's name. Granted that the GEJ administration appear opportunistic, this is an honour long over due. However, I sympathize with those who are responding to the fact that they have to wake up to see their certificates in the months to come bear another name other than unilag. I will like to appeal to them to allow the memory of the late MKO remain ever green. Consider the late business mogul being your dad or uncle, so rich, yet elected to fight and die for the greater need to end General Babangida's 'unending transition' and General Abacha political nightmare. I will volunteer if I were a unilag alumnus ( I am a great UITE), to have even my certificate retrieved and reissued assuming it were possible to honour this man who lost his life, his precious wife and business empire. He could have, like many thieving politicians, kept his wealth overseas and quietly enjoy ( is it enjoyment, or going lunatic?) it. Let the debate continue so that those experiencing shock can find easy and immediate outlet. Alternatively, President Jonathan can beat a retreat and name the Abuja national stadium in honor of MKO who happened to be the pillar of sports in Africa.

Happy DemoCRAZY day from Edeland, in the state of Osun, Nigeria.

AD Aina
Sent from my iPad

On May 29, 2012, at 8:21 PM, odigwe nwaokocha <nwa...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Those who are protesting the change of name are showing gross disrespect to one of  modern Nigeria's truely great and remarkable men. What a pity!

 

Odigwe A. Nwaokocha Department of History and International StudiesUniversity of Benin Benin City, Nigeria.

From: Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 7:46 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

The State of Lagos as the most progressive State in the federation was as we all know, the battlefield for the restoration of that mandate; it is important to consider democratic protocols and the politics involved, I think, nonetheless, it is deserving, just as i believe renaming the University of Ife to acknowledge Awolowo's vision of enlightenment. Zik on his part got what he deserved, the politics he played with the name "The University of Nigeria" came back to become his nemesis!

BodeOn May 29, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Kunle Lawal <kunlel...@yahoo.com> wrote:

I completely disagree with my own brother, Wole Atere, on this issue.  I am wondering if the ideal honour to the memory of Chief M.K.O. Abiola should not have been the renaming of the troublesome University of Abuja to Moshood Kashimawo Abiola University.  Perhaps if this had been the case, the case may have been made, properly, for acknowledging the Pan-Nigerian mandate which the late Chief Abiola clearly won and for which he paid the supreme price.  After all, the University of Abuja would have made it clear and beyond reasonable doubts, too, that President Jonathan is desirous of a lasting solution to the challenge of the most appropriate national monument to the man whose single-minded sacrifice brought about the present democratic dispensation.  Certainly, it will be the day when President Jonathan brings Goodluck to his administration when he openly reverses himself on this clearly unpopular step.  I want to appeal to him to do something unexpected for a change!

The last word : I waant to appeal to President Jonathan not to allow the joke that the Great University of Ibadan will be renamed Lamidi adedibu University.

Professor Olakunle A. Lawal

Department of History

University of Ibadan

IBADAn - NIGERIA

From: "wolea...@yahoo.com" <wolea...@yahoo.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, 29 May 2012, 17:36
Subject: Re: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

I have watched with interest, the views expressed on this matter. Dare I say at the risk of voicing a minority view that it is a needless protest. Like someone wrote, this is NOT the first nor will it be the last time a University would be renamed. Several people had expressed misgivings about the non-recognition of the hero that the Late Abiola was in the development of democracy in Nigeria. Now that it has come, it is being greeted with protest. Perhaps we require a reminder that the affected University is funded by the Federal Government symbolised by President Goodluck Jonathan. In any case, the other University that would have been focused is the Federal University, Abeokuta. My suspicion is that it is being reserved for former President Obasanjo, when he eventually passes on. As for the Senate of the University, no Senate that understands the workings of government owned University will make such an issue a matter for Senate debate. I admonish 'the stakeholders' in the University to prevent an avoidable crisis by accepting the change as inevitable, after all change is the only permanent phenomenon in life. Meanwhile, kudos to Mr President. Adewole Atere, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology. Osun State University

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

From: chukwuma adilieje <chum...@yahoo.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 08:59:08 -0700 (PDT)

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Cc: chuma<chum...@yahoo.com>

Subject: Fw: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

Femi My brother, you are quite right there. It appears to me that politics was the overriding consideration in the decision to rename the University after the Late M.K.O. Abiola of blessed memory, should not have been so. My humble opinion is that this University of Lagos should be drawn into the murky waters of Nigerian politics. Besides if proper consultations of with all the stake holders were undertaken before the change was announced I doubt that we would witness the kind of demonstration and outpouring of anger among the various stake holder who have already voiced their regret over the change and urged its reversal. I believe that, were chief M.K.O. Abiola  to be alive today, he would like late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who in 1986, rejected such an honour after University of Nigeria was renamed after him, do the same thing. This is really a disservice to the  memory of Chief Abiola, because the last thing anybody should do is to drag his name to the mud after he had lived his life and earned his image as a great philanthropist and businessman; democracy Icon and a pillar of sports in Africa. everyone is I spoken to is agreeable to having an appropriate honour done to the memory of M.K.O. Abiola. There is no reason why anybody should choose to paint Abiola as a controversial figure after his death. As I write this the Alumni, ASUU, and the non- Academic staff members of the University have all rejected  this sudden change of name. From available information the Senate of the may follow suit as many senior professors in the university have also voiced their opposition to this change. The university does not belong to members of the Federal Executive Council but to all its stake holders who ought to have been properly consulted. The name University of Lagos, symbolizes all its past achievement and and its present standing in international education sector. It is what it is today, partly because of what itself good name brings to it. I am also talking in terms of what image the numerous people across the world have about the university and its graduates over the years. The name change make a mess of the efforts of the past years to build a brand that is capable of  attracting national and international goodwill the every university so very much deserves. The name change takes the university back to the level of new universities in Nigeria that are still struggling to find their feet both in terms of track record of academic standards, quality of learning and level of human resources development, as it will now be faced with the unenviable task of convincing the public that the name change should not affect its image and integrity. The track record of any university includes its name and is part of what attracts quality academics and students to it. But the question should therefore be asked : "What was wrong with the name University of Lagos that warranted a desperate desire to change it or reposition the university?'.   If it is just a change of name, do you change a good name which any institution has built without hurting that institution or truncating its past glory standing a risk of reversing its progress?  --- On Tue, 5/29/12, Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Femi Kolapo <fj_k...@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com Date: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 7:07 AM

I doubt that most students will question whether  late Abiola deserves national honor. The question rather is whether  students (and alumni) and the community were taken into partnership in the decision to change the name of their school. Did government  envisage that students and other interested parties may have views and opinions that required discussions and negotiations before such decision was made? Another way to look at it is to ask whether another king could tomorrow ascend to our authoritarian throne and arbitrarily decide that the name of the university should be changed again to Wok & Chop University? Democracy and respect of the citizen by the government goes beyond the ballot box transaction. Relationship between Nigeria,together with its governments and its young (beginning from elementary school level) should model respect and democracy.  f.j. kolapo > Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU> To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com> From: oreli...@yahoo.com> Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 12:02:32 +0000> > It is disheartening to find the students of the University of Lagos now Moshood Abiola University protesting due to the fact that the President of the federation honoured the late Abiola. Why are they protesting? That's my question. They have portrayed irresponsible character of themselves and showed that they have not been fully educated,which have amounted to their gross ignorance of what they should do instead. > Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.> For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue> For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html> To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue- > unsub...@googlegroups.com

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[Okechukwu Ukaga]

"Zik on his part got what he deserved, the politics he played with the name "The University of Nigeria" came back to become his nemesis!"-Olabode Ibironke

Bode,

You seem to have no problem with naming a Nigerian university after Tom, Dick and Harry. But you have problem with naming a Nigerian university after NIGERIA. What exactly are you trying to say here? As a proud alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, I would like to know what you find wrong with the name "University of Nigeria"? What is the politics Zik played with that name? How did it "become his nemesis"? What an insult? Should I remind you that it is not an unusual practice to name a university after a country or even a union of countries as in American University (http://www.american.edu/) and European University (http://www.euruni.edu/).

Zik should be commended (and emulated) for being a true Nigerian/African and a visionary whose plans and actions are not usually clouded by narrow sectional interests. Instead he tended to think big, focusing on Nigeria/Africa as a whole..hence names like University of Nigeria and African Continental Bank for some of the institutions he established. He should also be commended for wanting to keep the focus and honor on Nigeria and not on himself by rejecting the move to change the name from University of Nigeria to Nnamdi Azikiwe University. 

Finally, while I very much appreciate MKO's contributions (and actively supported his effort to claim his mandate through - among other things - letters to President Clinton at the peak of the struggle urging him to act decisively in support of MKO and the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria) it is pertinent to note that MKO is not (by any measure) of the same caliber as Zik and Awo as you implied in your email below. Further, I should remind you that MKO was part of the problem for a very long time before he tried to became part of the solution towards the end of his life. Remember Fela's ITT. Remember MKO's relationship with all the Nigerian coup plotters and their military governments?  All told, however, I think he deserves some honor. But, I agree with others who have suggested that we need to re-examine how we determine who to honor, why and how, in Nigeria. 

-Okey

--

Okechukwu Ukaga, MBA, PhD
Executive Director and Extension Professor,

Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership, University of Minnesota, 

114 Chester Park, 31 W. College Street, Duluth, MN 55812

Website:http://www.rsdp.umn.edu/Northeast/index.htm

Phone: 218-341-6029  Fax: 218-726-7566

Book Review Editor, Environment, Development and Sustainability

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." - Richard Buckminster Fuller

[Jaye Gaskia]

I am in complete agreement with this summation of part of our recent history by Ayo Obe. Like her, we played quite active role in those discussions and struggles, and in the transition from CD to UAD.

At best MKO was a beneficiary of our struggle for democracy, not its initiator, nor was he even central to the protest movement on the street of those times......

Jaye Gaskia

Current National Convener

UAD

From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <adif...@gmail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 7:53 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

Beautiful summation from Ayo Obe, though I dont know the story at that level.For those who dont understand Nigerian pidgin English 'siddon look' means 'Sit Down and Look' a policy of complacent  attention in which one takes no action, distancing  oneself from being an active stakeholder,  while simply watching the development of a situation. toyin

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 7:38 AM, Ayo Obe <ayo.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

Let me add, with respect to the expression "Abiola inspired democracy struggle" that on the contrary, the fact that Abiola was the beneficiary of the staged and manipulated Babangida transition to civil rule programme actually divided the pro-democracy struggle between those who wanted a Sovereign National Conference, and those who insisted "On June 12th we stand".  Campaign for Democracy, which had been formed to see an end to military rule well before June 12th, was a major victim of this split.

It took a great deal of patient work and negotiation before a consensus was formed around a struggle for the actualisation of Abiola's mandate on condition that he would immediately convene a SNC, but the success of these discussions produced United Action for Democracy.  UAD immediately began to have an effect with the calling of the counter-demonstration to Abacha's Two Million March in Abuja, with our own Five Million March in Lagos, followed by May 1st protests in Ibadan which showed the Nigerian people ready to face Abacha's guns.  Shortly thereafter Abacha had a heart attack and died.

Abiola was probably more central to NADECO's pro-democracy activities, but after the assassination of Kudirat Abiola, its activities inside Nigeria (there certainly seemed to be more going on outside the country) were defined by the 'siddon look' philosophy, but while I was directly involved in the formation of UAD, my involvement with NADECO was limited.

One might say that both tendencies were important in the pro-democracy struggle, but the 'siddon look' tendency was still pronounced enough that when I arrived at the zonal hearing arranged by the Abdulsalami regime to sound the pulse on whether or not to continue with the Abacha transition programme, I found that while those such as General Adebayo - whose son was poised to become a governor under that programme - were speaking in favour of continuation, NADECO leaders present had not spoken "because this is a rented crowd".  Given the opportunity to speak, and reasoning that there was nothing to be ashamed of if a rented crowd shouted one down, I spoke against the continuation and received such massive applause that 'siddon look' was abandoned and I remember Senator Abraham Adesanya speaking with eloquence & passion in a speech laden with Yoruba proverbs and Shakespeare quotations that effectively buried the Abacha transition.  And gave us, er, what we have now! Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

On 30 May 2012, at 06:49, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <toyinv...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ibironke,I admire your pro-Abiola argument but tyou seem to be overstretching your case. I might also be ignorant of the significance of Abiola's total achievement. But let us look at the scales in  comparing Abiola with the related political icons, Awo and Zik. You, Chukwuma and Ayo earlier summed up what Abiola means in  politics, philanthropy, and education:Politics 'I think the end of dreadful military dictatorship and the advent of the longest period of democratic rule can be directly attributed to the titanic struggle of MKO. For this alone, Abiola has in my estimation risen to the status of Zik, Awolowo etc. tell me why those individual politicians deserve a greater recognition in our democracy?It would be ironic if the only people we consider worthy of national honor are only those who fought against colonial rule. Those who fought military dictatorship in my time are as much deserving as military rule has proven to be lethal in some instances. The State of Lagos as the most progressive State in the federation was as we all know, the battlefield for the restoration of that mandate; it is important to consider democratic protocols and the politics involved, I think, nonetheless, it is deserving, just as i believe renaming the University of Ife to acknowledge Awolowo's vision of enlightenment. Part of our national debate will remain who our heroes are and how we honor them.'Philanthropy in Education and Sports'He has also given more money to universities in Nigeria and Africa than most international organizations, and any other individual.'Chukwuma Adilieje - 'This is really a disservice to the  memory of Chief Abiola, because the last thing anybody should do is to drag his name to the mud after he had lived his life and earned his image as a great philanthropist and businessman; democracy Icon and a pillar of sports in Africa.'    Ayo Obe -What MKO was known for was his support for sports, a support which - through the Youth Sports Federation Of Nigeria (YSFON) - earned him the title 'Pillar of Sports in Africa'. I doubt if the Abiola inspired democracy  struggle is of the same calibre and effect in Nigeria as the struggle for Nigerian independence.The Abiola inspired democracy  struggle, alone, cannot place Abiola with Awo and Zik. Is there  evidence of the political and social philosophy of Abiola, as there is of  Awo and Zik?One can speak of Awiosm, a very real socio-political  and economic legacy, even though I have not seen that term being used,  or of Zikisim. It is possible to easily construct a profile of an Awoist or a Zikist or of a structure of ideas that one can study and perhaps emulate in the writings of these men, and to some degree, in their efforts to actualize these visions. They are political thinkers. No study of Nigerian and perhaps African political philosophy is possible without including their contributions and its impact. These men were also professional politicians, engaged in the Nigerian struggle as the defining feature of their adult lives. Their personal histories and that of Nigerian politics pre and post-colonial, run in tandem. The genesis and features of major Nigerian political parties bear their imprint and that of Awo remains shining in South West and national politics as a beacon to which people have aspired, but which  but it seems they have not really reached, in the foundational sense in which it seems Awo and his comrades established   modern South West political economy. That level of achievement at this point in Nigerian history  will imply a fundamental recreation of social services to Nigerians and Nigerian politicians do not seem ready for that. Abiola, on the other hand, came to political prominence  after establishing his central career in business. Abiola came to the forefront in Nigerian  politics in taking advantage of an artificial, unvisionary political process, which his victory and struggle for his stolen mandate nevertheless transformed into a symbol of the possibilities of genuine nationwide democracy of popular acclaim across all ethnic regions. Kudirat Abiola, his wife, other martyrs and heroes of that struggle are central to the country's legacy of selfless struggle. But is that achievement equatable to the decades long struggles of an Awo or a Zik? thankstoyin

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 5:39 AM, Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu> wrote:

Abiola led the pro-democracy forces to challenge military rule just as Zik and Awo mobilized against colonial rule.

On 5/30/12 12:20 AM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU wrote:

What has Abiola really achieved to merit this university being named after him?

Abiola is not in the class of Awo or Zik, with whom he is now being compared.

Awo is the ideological father of South West Nigerian developmental vision, a vision that has shaped indelibly the socio-economic landscape of the South West and Nigeria, a vision that remains a national point of reference.

Zik was a Pan-Africanist, an inspiration to African nationalists beyond Nigeria, an icon of the early struggles to define the direction of Nigerian politics in a trans-ethnic direction, a key figure in the eventual reintegration of Biafra back into Nigeria in the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War and an architect of educational development in  South Eastern Nigeria, a vision that has impacted immeasurably on the nation and the world through the achievements of the University of Nsukka.

Awo and Zik were both successful businessmen.

Abioa is best known as a businessman with an imposing presence in the Nigerian economy and a man cheated of a Presidential mandate, a struggle for which he eventually paid with his life.

Many died to protest the loss of that mandate. We are still struggling with the bitter fruits of that loss, which set us back at least a decade, if not more.

Abiola's name is not associated with the creation and actualization of an ideological vision, like those of Zik and Awo. So they are not equatable at all.

Abiola's primary public achievement was in business. He was therefore a capitalist whose primary goal was the maximization of profit, not the idealistic, self transcending visions of an Awo or a Zik.

Yes, he fought courageously for and paid with his life for a his stolen Presidential mandate.

That achievement, though, is not significant enough to warrant giving his name to one of the most venerable universities in Nigeria, an institution in whose life he played no role in, to the best of my knowledge.

It is more fitting to create a national holiday in his name and institute  national  ceremonies on that day , so that the democratic ideal he fought for should be commemorated in the time cycle of the nation in a way that will continually recall that great struggle of Abiola's in people's minds.

thanks

toyin

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 12:40 AM, Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com> wrote:

This the time to ask the icons and leaders of the prodemocracy movement, Professors Wole Soyinka, Olusola Adeyeye and Mobolaji Aluko, what do they think of UNILAG's name change? Is this their idea of how Chief MKO Abiola should be immortalized? By the drunken force of fiat? Is this what they fought for? They should not be silent. They should please speak up and assure us that this is the way to go, that this is how MKO Abiola would have wanted it. The silence of the prodemocracy movement is deafening and embarrassing. Animal Farm did not look this bad. - Ikhide

From: Professor Ayandiji Daniel Aina <diji...@yahoo.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 13:05:59 -0700 (PDT)

To: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Cc: <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

The cacophony of voices dishonorable of the one who gave his life for others to live will soon  fade away. If the great University of Ife became Obafemi Awolowo University, I do not see the reason why the University of Lagos or the great University of Ibadan can not wear MKO's name. Granted that the GEJ administration appear opportunistic, this is an honour long over due. However, I sympathize with those who are responding to the fact that they have to wake up to see their certificates in the months to come bear another name other than unilag. I will like to appeal to them to allow the memory of the late MKO remain ever green. Consider the late business mogul being your dad or uncle, so rich, yet elected to fight and die for the greater need to end General Babangida's 'unending transition' and General Abacha political nightmare. I will volunteer if I were a unilag alumnus ( I am a great UITE), to have even my certificate retrieved and reissued assuming it were possible to honour this man who lost his life, his precious wife and business empire. He could have, like many thieving politicians, kept his wealth overseas and quietly enjoy ( is it enjoyment, or going lunatic?) it. Let the debate continue so that those experiencing shock can find easy and immediate outlet. Alternatively, President Jonathan can beat a retreat and name the Abuja national stadium in honor of MKO who happened to be the pillar of sports in Africa.

Happy DemoCRAZY day from Edeland, in the state of Osun, Nigeria.

AD Aina
Sent from my iPad

On May 29, 2012, at 8:21 PM, odigwe nwaokocha <nwa...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Those who are protesting the change of name are showing gross disrespect to one of  modern Nigeria's truely great and remarkable men. What a pity!

 

Odigwe A. Nwaokocha Department of History and International Studies University of Benin Benin City, Nigeria.

From: Olabode Ibironke <ibir...@msu.edu>

To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 7:46 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Protest from students of the new re-named school-MAU

The State of Lagos as the most progressive State in the federation was as we all know, the battlefield for the restoration of that mandate; it is important to consider democratic protocols and the politics involved, I think, nonetheless, it is deserving, just as i believe renaming the University of Ife to acknowledge Awolowo's vision of enlightenment. Zik on his part got what he deserved, the politics he played with the name "The University of Nigeria" came back to become his nemesis!

Bode On May 29, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Kunle Lawal <kunlel...@yahoo.com> wrote:

I completely disagree with my own brother, Wole Atere, on this issue.  I am wondering if the ideal honour to the memory of Chief M.K.O. Abiola should not have been the renaming of the troublesome University of Abuja to Moshood Kashimawo Abiola University.  Perhaps if this had been the case, the case may have been made, properly, for acknowledging the Pan-Nigerian mandate which the late Chief Abiola clearly won and for which he paid the supreme price.  After all, the University of Abuja would have made it clear and beyond reasonable doubts, too, that President Jonathan is desirous of a lasting solution to the challenge of the most appropriate national monument to the man whose single-minded sacrifice brought about the present democratic dispensation.  Certainly, it will be the day when President Jonathan brings Goodluck to his administration when he openly reverses himself on this clearly unpopular step.  I want to appeal to him to do something unexpected for a change!

The last word : I waant to appeal to President Jonathan not to allow the joke that the Great University of Ibadan will be renamed Lamidi adedibu University.

Professor Olakunle A. Lawal

Department of History

University of Ibadan

IBADAn - NIGERIA

[Olabode Ibironke]

The same arguments were made about Awolowo that his vision of free and compulsory education came from his commissioner of education and most of the signal achievements of the Action Group were attributed to one or the other of Awolowo's colleagues etc etc. The truth is, without Abiola lending his considerable international weight to the movement, that movement would have remained at best ineffectual and marginal. The alliance between the billionaire and activists meant that each brought different things to the movement. I don't see the justification for the current statements.

Bode

[Olabode Ibironke]

I have explained how I thought the very name "The University of Nigeria" may have prevented the institution from being renamed after Zik. Among many other references I do not have immediate access to at the moment, I would cite Professor Babatunde Fafunwa's 1974 booklet, The Growth and Development of Nigerian Universities.

"Although the University College, Ibadan was opened in January 1948 as an extension of the University of London in Nigeria, the institution did not emerge as a full-fledged University until December 1962, two years after Nsukka and three months after Ahmadu Bello University. The University of Ife and the University of Lagos followed and each was founded as an autonomous institution... Between 1948 and 1960, the University College, Ibadan dominated the higher educational scene in Nigeria and served as a point of reference for the British pattern of higher education. However, within seven years of Ibadan's establishment this model came under severe criticism when, in 1955, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was the premier of the then eastern region, proposed the establishment of a different kind of university patterned after the American land-grant college. The eastern legislature approved the proposal, causing no small consternation at home and abroad." 

We celebrate Zik for thinking big and out of the colonial box, yes! But others at the time did not see it that way and did not receive the "severe criticism" against Ibadan as innocent of political positioning. The history of that debate reveal an intense jostling for the mantle of leadership among the regions in everything including having the first autonomous university, a mantle which it seems the name The University of Nigeria was meant to grab from Ibadan. (American University is not the same as The University of America!) I do not intend to resurrect this debate, especially following my other Oga's reproach or start a new thread of discussions.  My senior brother went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and I loved the campus when I visited. I served in Anambra State and could say I still consider it home there as well. So, there is no prejudice attached to my comments about Zik and the institution, just history as I understand it.

Bode

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

There was also Zik’s “West African Pilot”. Thank you Okey for a fact based  response to a jaundiced posting.

 

oa

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Okechukwu Ukaga
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 12:22 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Calling on the remnants of the prodemocracy movement!

 

"Zik on his part got what he deserved, the politics he played with the name "The University of Nigeria" came back to become his nemesis!"-Olabode Ibironke

[Ayo Obe]

The statements are fully justified, & with respect, the contributor who thinks that the pro-democracy movement would have remained marginal and ineffectual without "Abiola's considerable international weight" misses the point.  That statement is not true.  UAD was not at the front dragging the Nigerian people, it was at the front being pushed by the Nigerian people.

It is generally a mistake to confuse the figurehead with the struggle, but to ascribe the victory won  to the figurehead is something of an insult to ordinary people.  It is that kind of thinking that had people wondering when we were going to have our own 'Arab Spring' because they never want to credit the ordinary Nigerian with anything - no, the ordinary Nigerian is no paragon, but nor are the citizens of other countries.

I appreciate that there will always be those who must put a single face on victories that were actually won by the Nigerian people themselves, but that is a different thing to crediting those victories to what - particularly given Abiola's incarceration and Kudirat Abiola's murder - more properly merits the term 'marginal'.  If one reads what I said about my experience at the zonal hearing on whether to continue with the Abacha transition, one will see that it was the reaction of the crowd who were there that swung that particular day.  When we turned up for the 'Five Million Man March' we fitted into about two or three danfo buses, but it was people who had made their own way there, under their own steam, those in the neighbourhood who gave instant support that made it memorable.  (OK, it wasn't 5 Mil, but nor was Abacha's state-funded bused-in march 2 Mil either).

We used to fantasise about what we could have done nationwide if Abiola had supported the pro-democracy movement (then led by CD) with a fraction of the fees he paid Prof Kasunmu for the case in which Justice Akinsanya declared the Transitional National Government illegal, but the fact is that he did not.  UAD received no support from him, & the less said about the remaining family now hailing Jonathan's gesture, the better.

Abiola deserves a National honour - not this one (the first reaction that I and others had was to wonder why Jonathan did not accept long-standing calls for the National Stadium to be named after him) - but I would say that he is as much recognised for the martyrdom that came from his incarceration & death in prison as for his June 12th victory.  His life experiences and history up to June 23rd may explain why he believed that the system that had carried him thus far would ultimately come true for him, so it isn't surprising if he did not trust to 'the street', even when Abacha mowed down almost 200 on the streets of Lagos for protesting the annulment of his election, still believing that there could be some other way to negotiate himself into office.  He had a hard time learning how willing that system/establishment was to throw him under the bus, and honestly, I don't even blame, let alone denigrate him for that.  He was what he was.  We always said that the qualities that carried him to victory in the June 12th election were the same ones that prevented him from being able to actualise that victory.

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

[OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU]

Wow:

'He was what he was.  We always said that the qualities that carried him to victory in the June 12th election were the same ones that prevented him from being able to actualise that victory.'
Ayo Obe

--

[Olabode Ibironke]

So, Abiola's flaws were responsible for Babangida's ambition to be president for life, and for Abacha's vaulting ambitions which were the only reasons to annul the elections and resist its actualization even if it would mean plunging the country into war? I don't get it.

[Ayo Obe]

With due respect, you don't get it because you didn't read what I wrote, but placed your own interpretation and additional words (such as "flaws") among mine.  A quality is a quality.  It can be a flaw or a fault, a vice or a virtue depending on the circumstances.

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

[Olabode Ibironke]

I just think that when it comes to the analysis of the reasons why the June 12 elections were annulled, I personally would rather place the responsibility on those who annulled it and not on Abiola's "qualities".

Bode

[Ayo Obe]

Again, you import the word "responsibility" where it was not used.

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama