Kanyi Okeke
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| That used to be Unilag Junction, now Maulag junction. |
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.
