Olanipekun urges caution over change of UNILAG’s name

AGAINST the backdrop of the raging controversy trailing the renaming of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to Moshood Abiola University, Lagos, the former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) has urged caution over the issue, saying there “is no leader anywhere in the world that does not make mistakes.”

Olanipekun who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan stated this on Wednesday at the closing ceremony of the third edition of the annual Chief Wole Olanipekun National Moot and Mock competition held at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife in Osun State.

In a statement, Olanipekun noted that the problems facing the nation today predates President Goodluck Jonathan regime.

“President Jonathan is a human being, every human being might err or make mistake, Obama makes mistakes, Gordon Brown made mistakes, even the Queen of England makes mistakes and no one talks about removing them from office.    So, why should opposition parties call for Jonathan’s impeachment?”

He said everyone was bound by the rule of law and if the President renamed UNILAG, it was not enough for the students to start protesting on the streets.

“You can’t encourage violence as there is an alternative – vintage alternative, factual alternative, latent alternative – you can go to the court to seek redress, so why impeachment?”

The two-day competition which was organised by Justice Chambers, Faculty of Law, OAU had eight participating universities.