LAGOS, Nigeria, May 31 (UPI) -- The University of Lagos was temporarily closed this week as students protested the Nigerian government's decision to change its name.
President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the school to be renamed in honor of M.K.O. Abiola, a Yoruba chief who ran for president in 1993, the Nigerian newspaper The Guardian reported. Abiola's supporters believe that he won the 1993 presidential election, although the results were never certified and a military regime remained in power.
Hundreds of students blocked roads to the main campus and refused to leave for the two-week suspension of academic activity.
The Federal Executive Council and the National Universities Commission support Jonathan's decision, which was also ratified by the University Senate.
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"Any nation that does not honor those who clearly stand out and make sacrifice as role models for others to follow, cannot appeal to the best in its own tradition for citizens to follow," the council said in a statement.
Abiola was imprisoned in 1994 after he declared himself president. He died in 1998 on the day he was to be released.
Abiola remains a controversial figure, with detractors saying he should not have declared victory in 1993. But some of the resistance to the name change comes from the university's history, the newspaper said.
"This is the first university built by the federal government of Nigeria. It was established by the Act of Parliament of 1962 and it said the name shall be University of Lagos," Karo Ogbinaka, chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, told protesters.
He said Abiola should be honored by naming a new institution after him.
