TO NAME OR NOT TO RE-NAME

As accolades and tributes are still being poured out on the personality of it's late vice-chancellor, UNILAG witnessed another shocker this morning. this came in form of the announcement of the president this morning, stating categorically that he had renamed the university of Lagos after the late M.K.O Abiola. rumour has it that little or no consultation was made with the school authorities before this decision by the presidency was made. As condemnation from all quarters trail this decision by the now all too unpopular president, the students are not left out. Students gathered en-mass, as the news infiltrated the halls, and as early as 10am this morning, had mobilized to stage peaceful protests which was extended beyond the confines of the school gates and into neighbouring quarters like the yaba under-bridge, jibowu,disrupting traffic and commercial activities for about four hours. the roads in and around the school were not spared the

angry but peacefull demonstration of students, as they effectively occupied and stopped all forms of vehicular traffic on these roads. As afternoon progressed into evening, the protesting students kept their effective mobilisation and occupation, even as fun was added to the protests, as disk jockeys (DJ's) were brought into the scheme of things, dishing out contemporary hip-hop and RnB songs, even as students gladly danced to these well articulated tunes, nevertheless not losing focus of the reason why they were outside, instead of their hostels, the MAUL factor. as a witness to these events aforementioned,i would love to commend the professional behaviour of the security agencies,as they let the rule of law take precedence, neither harassing the students nor disrupting the peacefull protests. plans are in high gear for the occupation of the third mainland bridge tomorrow morning, even as many students gladly signified their support for such a decision, i hope that they show up tomorrow morning. conclusively, the rally today was generally peaceful, violence free and without casualties, and as much as i want to believe that subsequent ones will be just this peaceful, we would have to hope against hope that throughout this struggle violence and anarchy does not emerge. Asking for the justification for this demonstration, i would quote saint Augustine, who said and i quote "an unjust law is no law at all" and as such should be resisted. Does the renaming of UNILAG has any implications on the students, staff and school? i would leave you with this quote by martin Luther king Jr which says and i quote "To strip a man of his manhood,take his identity".