UNIBEN got 3-yr notice to vacate govt property, says
Oshiomhole
Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said that the state
Government served authorities of the University of
Benin a notice, three years ago, to vacate eighteen
properties belonging to the Edo State Government,
but rather than vacate, they took the government to
court.
The Governor said to fulfill all righteousness, the
government waited for the court to deliver judgment,
which it did on December 16, last year, ordering the
university authorities to vacate the said properties
“forthwith” ruling that the 18 properties belonged to
the state government.
According to him, having waited from December 16,
2014 for the illegal tenants to vacate the properties
and they refused, the government took steps granted
by the court to recover the properties in the interest
of the people of the state.
Fielding questions from journalists on the issue,
Tuesday, Oshiomhole said as the Governor, he has a
duty and responsibility to hold in trust and protect all
assets belonging to the People of Edo State that are
entrusted to the government of the State.
He said, “As the Governor of this state, I have
responsibility and duty to protect the interest and
assets of Edo State and those properties are not in
the names of any individual. They are in the names
of Edo State Government and we cannot fold our
hands and allow individuals to continue to occupy
properties belonging to Edo State Government and
paying rents to the wrong authority. I remain firm that
if the interest of Edo State is involved, I must stand
firm and execute it without fear or favor and that is
exactly what we have done.”
Giving a background on how the properties got to the
university authorities, he said: “As I am sure you will
recall, when UNIBEN was set up, the then Military
Governor, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, in his wisdom,
decided as a young institution to assist some of the
officers and staff with accommodation and so, some
houses were made available to accommodate some
of the staff of UNIBEN.
“However, they have occupied these properties
without paying any rent to Edo State Government but
a couple of years ago, just before I assumed office
as governor, the Federal Government in line with the
policy of monetization under which salaries of
employees including other allowances were
abolished so that rather than provide these for
certain categories of public officers, they were to be
paid in lieu of either official quarters or cars.
“Subsequently, the Federal Government announced
the policy under which they had put on sale all
apartments and quarters occupied by public officers
having monetized the allowances of such officers
and so, in Edo State, Federal Government and some
of its agencies had published their intention to sell off
the houses that were previously occupied by Public
officers.
“As a result of the decision, my predecessor in
office, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor, as the governor
then, disputed the claim of the Federal Government
and the University of Benin that these assets from
our records were assets of Edo State Government”.
The Governor said shortly after assuming office, he
was approached by counsel of the University of Benin
asking him to sign some documents to transfer the
landed properties to the university which he declined,
saying, “I told him if UNIBEN needs any favor from
Edo State Government, I expect the leadership or the
VC to approach the government of Edo State for such
a favor, not to approach us through their legal
adviser.
“I also reminded him that I am aware and it is the
truth that salaries of lecturers, academic and non-
academic staff have been monetized and even the
salary of the VC is now over N1.5 million monthly
because the provision for official quarters, car, driver
have been monetized and added to their pay. In any
event, the official lodge of the Vice Chancellor of
Benin is within the premises of the University of
Benin at Ugbowo and so he is not entitled to hold
several other government properties. He is not even
entitled under the Federal Government policy now to
occupy even the official lodge of the VC except he
pays rent for it”, he said.
Oshiomhole said, “Thereafter I was informed by the
Attorney-General that UNIBEN had decided to go to
court. Meanwhile, I did not take any further steps. I
had directed that a letter be written to the
management of the University of Benin advising their
officials to vacate those quarters because the
University authority was now collecting rent on
properties belonging to Edo State Government and
this, in my view, was unacceptable and they were
advised to vacate. Once we dropped the letter, we
didn’t take any further steps.
“On their own, they chose to go to court to challenge
our claims that these properties belonged to Edo
State Government. Of course we were obliged to
enter appearance and we contracted a SAN to
represent us in the suit.
“In the end, the court ruled in our favor that these
properties belonged to Edo State Government and the
fact that you asked a tenant to stay in your quarters
doesn’t confer ownership on him and the attempt to
sell means that these persons no longer need the
assistance. So the court ruled in our favor but the
court also proceeded and ruled, based on our own
prayers, that having served them notice over 3 years
ago, that they should vacate and they failed to
vacate, the court ordered that they should vacate the
properties forthwith”, he noted.
Oshiomhole stressed, “To vacate forthwith means
without any further notice because the court took
judicial notice of the fact that they have been asked to
vacate these properties for over a period of 3 years
so they can’t claim that they have not been advised
to leave but they stubbornly refused to vacate the
properties. This judgment was delivered on the 16th
of December, 2014.
“Now I would have thought that if the management of
the university had any problem with this to approach
us to either give them time or make proposals on how
we can manage to accommodate them. However
from all we have watched on TV, they were not
ready, rather they were still threatening here and
there.
“We have also found out that even the former VC,
Professor Oshodin is not directly occupying even the
property that he is occupying. One of the properties,
he allocated to himself, from what we now know, he
actually allocated that property to his senior wife
while Professor Oshodin lives outside in another
property with his younger wife. You cannot give Edo
State Government properties to individuals like that.
“There are many of the lecturers, who have retired,
who are no longer in the employment of the
University of Benin who are still occupying some of
these properties. They have lived there for the past
30years, have retired from UNIBEN several years
ago and yet they occupy these properties. Is this in
line with public service rule? Are these properties
meant to be retirement benefits? He asked.
“So the steps we have taken are purely in the
interest of the Edo Public whose taxes were used to
procure those assets. I have a duty to secure those
assets. I also want to use this opportunity to make
the point that I am not like others. I am not selling
any of these assets to myself, nor am I allocating
any of them to myself or to any of my friends. It is a
matter of principle. Everybody is under the law and
nobody can resort to blackmail.
“I am aware that they have tried to mobilize all
manners of people, people who have no interest
whatsoever in the matter. These properties are not
student hostels. If the properties are not student
hostels, how is the interest of the student community
affected? If the wife of Professor Oshodin lives in one
of the properties, how does that affect the interest of
the student community?
“Clearly, people are being mobilized believing that
they can twist the facts and create all kinds of
distractions but as far as I am concerned, I am clear,
my duties here sometimes can be very pleasant,
some other times, it requires a level of courage. The
courage to protect the public interest and governance
requires that sometimes, you step on toes of people
you respect”, he added.
On the issue of the case being in court of appeal, the
governor said, “Now if they claim they have a court
order to stay, it is not with their mouth, they have to
show it to you exactly the same way we have shown
you in black and white, the judgment of the court, let
them show you the court order that granted them
stay. If the court granted stay, we cannot proceed
but also it is an elementary principle in law that the
fact that you verbalize your intentions to appeal
doesn’t mean you have filed an appeal”

Make I book space incase you make front page.

long epistle

Hmmm.. I dunno what to comment o