Group condemns call for renaming of UNILORIN after Sheik Alimi
* Urges Gov to rename Govt House as David Lasisi Bamigboye
Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
A socio-cultural organisation, under the aegis of the Kwara South Consultative Forum, has kicked against the call by the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, for the renaming of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) after Sheikh Alimi of the Alimi Dynasty in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Alhaji Sulu-Gambari had made the call at the just concluded 50th anniversary celebrations of the University of Ilorin.
The Forum, however, said it viewed “the push as a highly provocative suggestion, which is indifferent to the diversity and divergent history of other ethnic groups in the State.”
The Forum also called on the state government to rename the Government House after late Brigadier General David Bamigboye, being the pioneer Military Governor of the State, instead of renaming it Ahmadu Bello House.
The Forum, in a statement by its Secretary General, Engr. Adebayo Simon Daramola, while alluding to call for the renaming of UNILORIN after Sheik Alimi, said: “The entire state of Kwara is the catchment area of the University of Ilorin. We are just not homogeneous enough in Kwara state for that idea to ever be muted.
“Neither do we want to go into needless arguments with members of other ethnic groups in other senatorial districts because of mutual respects between us and other such organisations towards the development of the State, Kwara.
“However, the fact that the University is located in Ilorin does not confer ownership on the city. The privilege of being the host also does not confer ownership on the city, while the privilege of being the host community should not be confused to mean exclusive ownership either.
“It should be noted that the significance of the history of the head of Alimi dynasty bears no relevance to the people of Ekiti, Ibolo and Igbomina descents of Kwara South and even of the other Senatorial District (Kwara North).
“It will therefore be uncalled for to contemplate imposition of a name that does not have a ‘state wide spread’ on our collective inheritance.
“As at today in Kwara South, there are six private Universities Viz
Landmark University, Omu-Aran;
Thomas Adewumi University, Oko;
Abubakar Abdulrazak Toyin University, Gamo; Summit University, Ira Road, Offa; Offa University, Offa;
Lens University, Offa / Ilemona Ira Road, as well as Lens Polytechnic, Ira Road Offa.
“So, we are advising you to take a queue from Kwara South by establishing a private University in the name of Sheik Alimi if you are so concerned and desirous about naming a University in the name of Alimi dynasty.”
On the renaming of the State Government House, the Forum noted that “of recent, the Government House was renamed Ahmadu Bello House without consultations with other ethnic communities in Kwara State, especially, the Yoruba ethnic group in Kwara South.
“If at all the Government House would be named after anybody, after due consultations, it should have been named after the pioneer Military Governor of the State, Brigadier General David Lasisi Bamigboye (Rtd), of blessed memory, as David Lasisi Bamigboye House.
“It is still not late to right the wrong by renaming the Kwara State Government House as David Lasisi Bamigboye House, considering the fact that Bamigboye was the pioneer Military Governor of the State who had served the state diligently and left worthy legacies, including the Government House.
“Justice, equity and fairness make this our demand salient, potent, and incontrovertible. We, therefore, appeal to our amiable Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to passionately look into this matter by reversing this glaring injustice done to a man who gave his all to give Kwara State a solid foundation.
“We wish to emphasize and advise that equity, justice and fairness should be our watchwords in Kwara State, a state with the sobriquet, ‘State of Harmony’.
“We should not do anything by our actions or inactions, and conduct that can tamper with our resolve to perpetually live together in peace and harmony.”