UNILAG to MAULAG: Students sue President over name-change

By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE
LAGOS — Some students of
University of Lagos, UNILAG,
now, Moshood Abiola
University, have asked a
Federal High Court sitting in
Lagos to declare that the
power to change or amend
the name of University of
Lagos being a body corporate,
having perpetual succession
with common seal as provided
under the University of Lagos
Act 1967(as amended) belongs
to the national legislatures.
The students, who had sued
President Goodluck Jonathan,
also asked the court to
declare that UNILAG, being a
creation of an act of the
National Assembly, the
University of Lagos Act, 1967
(as amended), cannot be
governed except in
accordance with the
provisions of the University of
Lagos Act, 1967.
The students are also praying
the court to declare that the
announcement contained in
the President’s May 29, 2012,
broadcast, changing the
name of University of Lagos to
Moshood Abiola University, is
unconstitutional, ultra vires,
null and void and of no effect
whatsoever.
The students want the court
to resolve whether the
President, in his capacity as
the Visitor to University of
Lagos has the power under
the University of Lagos Act,
1967, to unilaterally change
the name of the institution to
Moshood Abiola University.
They also want the court to
determine whether the
President, in the exercise of
the executive powers of the
federation vested in him in
Section 5 of the 1999
Constitution, can unilaterally
change the name of University
of Lagos without recourse to
the National Assembly.
Source: Vanguard Newspaper