The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has denied the PDP’s accusation that the party was behind the protests by the students of University of Lagos (UNILAG) against the federal government’s decision to change the institution’s name to Moshood Abiola University.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said rather than blame the opposition for the protests, the PDP should be concerned with how the Jonathan Administration has once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by reaching the right destination through illegal routes.
ACN said while it is not opposed to any action to honour the most prominent martyr of Nigeria’s democracy, Chief Moshood Abiola, it is opposed to the sectional nature of the honour and the diminished importance of naming a university after prominent personalities, especially someone like Chief Abiola.
‘’Chief Abiola clearly won a national election, and this has been acknowledged by the government itself. Any honour to be conferred on him must reflect that. While it can be argued that UNILAG is a federal university, the truth remains that it is based in the South-west.
‘’Also, in an era in which the establishment of universities have been liberalised, everyone with access to funds can now set up a university and name it after himself or herself. That has definitely eroded the importance attached to naming such institutions after national heroes, including Chief Moshood Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election,’’ it said.
The ACN stressed that it disagrees with insinuations in certain quarters that the decision to honour Chief Abiola was aimed at garnering political benefits, saying Nigerians in general and the people of the South-west in particular are too sophisticated to be hoodwinked by such pandering.