Lawyer and public affairs analyst, Maxwell Opara, has strongly criticised the decision by President Bola Tinubu to rename the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) after former President Muhammadu Buhari, describing the move as both legally questionable and morally unjustified.

Speaking on Arise TV, Opara argued that former President Buhari was neither an academic nor a democrat and lacked the educational values necessary to be associated with a citadel of learning like a federal university.

“President Buhari never believed in education. During his time, universities were under severe stress, and academic activities were repeatedly disrupted. So why associate a university with someone who undermined its essence?” Opara asked.

He noted that federal universities like UNIMAID were established by acts of the National Assembly and that any renaming must follow proper legislative procedures. “The law that created the University of Maiduguri clearly defines its name. You can’t just wake up and rename it without amending the Act,” he said.

Opara maintained that stakeholders including alumni, students, and academic staff have legal standing to challenge the decision in court. He further criticised Buhari’s track record, alleging that under his administration, peaceful protesters were silenced and the judiciary was weakened.

“He used inferior courts to remove the Chief Justice of Nigeria and systematically eroded the independence of the judiciary. Is this the legacy we want to immortalise in an institution of learning?” Opara asked.

He suggested that infrastructure like parks, railway stations, or military barracks would be more suitable for bearing Buhari’s name. “A university is a place of knowledge, discipline, and enlightenment values Buhari did not promote.”

Opara concluded that President Tinubu’s decision appeared to be a strategic political move to secure similar posthumous honours, rather than a reflection of Buhari’s contributions to education.

“History should not be whitewashed. If someone weakened our democratic and academic institutions, we should say it clearly for the sake of generations to come,” he said.

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