By Gambo Dori
I thought I had done with this subject matter in my piece last week on this page. However, a text from an elder columnist at the Vanguard newspaper, Dele Sobowale, whose versatility and diligence I adore, prompted me to return to the subject matter. He wrote: ‘I just finished reading your article today about Renaming University of Maiduguri (UniMaid). Your last sentence is too pessimistic, as history in the Southwest has demonstrated. Ondo State University was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University. Military Governor Otiko reversed it. I strongly believe another government will reverse the decision.’
- G. Mohammed also wrote: “I read your article in yesterday’s Daily Trust – – the university should not live with its renaming as Muhammadu Buhari University. Concerted efforts should be made to make the President see reason that almost everyone in the community, the staff and alumni are vehemently against it. This is showing as if we don’t have deserving individuals in Borno – – Sheikh El Kanemi, Sir Kashim Ibrahim, Shettima Ali Monguno, Zanna Bukar Dipcharima, Waziri Ibrahim, etc., haba?”
I admit that I was overly pessimistic because I felt that this administration had ignored concerns about its impulsive naming of national landmarks and institutions.
I also acknowledge that numerous landmarks have indeed been named and renamed over the years. Ondo State University, established during the 2nd Republic by the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, state government led by Pa Adekunle Ajasin, was named after the party’s national leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. However, the name was promptly reversed during the military regime that came into effect after the December 1983 coup. A more recent example is Yobe State University, established in 2006 by the then-Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim, after whom it was named. However, a few years later, with a change of regime, it was renamed as Yobe State University, a name it still bears.
Perhaps still a more recent example was the 2012 futile attempt to rename a university when President Jonathan sought to immortalise the name of Moshood Abiola by renaming the University of Lagos after the late politician. When the proposal was announced on Democracy Day, May 29, 2012, university students, the local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and university Alumni, galvanised by the usually vociferous Lagos elites, rose in unison to frustrate President Jonathan’s gesture. It was a long and persistent struggle, but their dogged efforts paid off as President Jonathan backed down in February the following year. The institution remains the University of Lagos, not Moshood Abiola University, as President Jonathan had hoped.
Maybe sensing the possibility of success, the UniMaid stakeholders have now been up in arms to get President Tinubu to reverse what they regard as a capricious action. The UniMaid chapter of ASUU has been at the lead of this agitation. In a statement on Thursday, July 24, the union vehemently rejected and strongly condemned the federal government’s decision to rename the institution. They said, “ASUU views any attempt to rename the University of Maiduguri — after 50 years of esteemed existence — as a flagrant disregard for university autonomy, a disruption of cherished academic traditions, and a direct affront to the collective heritage and identity of the university community (and that the decision was) ill-conceived, arbitrary, and devoid of meaningful consultation with the university community, alumni, relevant stakeholders, and the general public.” The UniMaid chapter of ASUU has now decided to take the matter to the next level by testing it in court.
Perhaps at this juncture, I should allude to what took place decades ago in late 1959, in a process to honour the name of the Premier of Northern Region, Sardauna Ahmadu Bello. His ministers, Aliyu Makaman Bida, Michael Audu Buba, Wazirin Shendam, Ahman Galadiman Pategi, Umaru Babura, Sarkin Fulanin Jaidanawa, Ahmadu Fatika, Sarkin Fadan Zazzau, Aliyu Turakin Zazzau and the convener, Isa Kaita, Wazirin Katsina, put their heads together and came up with the idea of establishing an institution of higher learning to be named after the Sardauna. The Sardauna accepted the idea, and the plans went ahead. When everything was ready, Isa Kaita, then Minister of Education, presented a bill to the House of Assembly in April 1960, which was passed without a single dissenting vote.
The college was built in Kano and opened in October 1960, and was duly named Ahmadu Bello College. Happily, at the same time, the Federal Government had come up with the recommendation that the regional government establish a University of Northern Nigeria. The federal government was ready to relinquish its Zaria campus of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology to help get it started. Once more, Isa Kaita went back to the House of Assembly in June 1961 to present a bill on the matter, naming the new institution Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The Ahmadu Bello College in Kano was then renamed Abdullahi Bayero College, which some years later became Bayero University. I gathered this much from the foreword written by Isa Kaita in the book, History of Ahmadu Bello University, 1962-87.
Times have changed, of course, but the principles remain the same. We need to consult and follow due process before certain things are done.