it was a pitiable sight on Monday, January 5,
2015 seeing the immediate past Vice Chancellor
of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof.Osayuki
Oshodin, at his official residence in GRA, Benin
City, as bulldozers were unleashed on the building
on the orders of Edo State government. It was
about 5pm that day when the bulldozers went to
work. Oshodin, who was relaxing after the day’s
job, was shocked.
The mission of the bulldozers was straight
forward: Enforce the order of the High Court,
Benin, which declared that the about 18 properties
given to the University of Benin in 1970 by the
government of the defunct Midwest State, led by
Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, were the properties of the
Edo government and not that of UNIBEN.
The properties, as Sunday Vanguard was told,
were given to the university by Ogbemudia to
assist the staff of the university since it was then
a brand new university on Benin soil. Ever since
then, the properties have been within the
possession of the university. It was, however,
learnt that the Prof.Osarhiemen Osunbor
administration started the process of recovering
the properties after it was alleged that they were
attempts by some staff of the UNIBEN to sell
them. It was said that the Osunbor
administration published a caveat emptor where
the state government urged members of the pubic
not to buy any of the properties. That process of
recovery was on until the administration of
Governor Adams Oshiomhole came in, in 2008.
However, tension between the university and the
state government heightened after the High Court,
Benin, presided over by Justice E.O.Ahamioge,
ruled in favour of the state government on
December 16, 2014. UNIBEN had dragged the
state government to court and canvassed five
issues but the court rejected all of them and ruled
that it should vacate the properties after it failed
to prove ownership of the properties.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the university
reported filed an appeal and application for stay
of execution of the judgment. But the state
government on Monday rolled out bulldozers on
the disputed properties and Oshodin and others
became the victims. The former UNIBEN VC, who
described the action as illegal and wicked,
narrated his ordeal: “I was in the house here
when I saw over 2,000 people from Edo State
government who came to demolish my house. I
was shocked because there was no notice from
anybody.
Even if you want to enforce a court order, is it
with this large number of people? Apart from the
fact that we have filed an appeal against the
judgment, why don’t you wait till the appeal is
heard? What the governor is doing is illegal and
that is very bad. As a teacher, what I have are
my books, including some which I used during my
primary school days. They have destroyed most
of them, no opportunity to pack out my things. I
have not seen this kind of wickedness before and
that is why I am shocked”.
Also speaking, counsel to the university, Hannibal
Uwaifo, narrated: “After the judgment on
December 16, 2014 which gave the state
government ownership of the properties, on the
23rd, unidentified agents of the state government
mercilessly beat up and forcefully threw out the
staff of the university. We are worried because of
the use of people like this to enforce a court
judgment. One of the reasons we are always
reminded that we live in a civilized society is the
presence of the regular courts by which
conflicting claims between members of the
society are ideally independently and impartially
resolved. We have pending appeal and motion for
stay execution before the court, yet the state
government went on to destroy the properties and
that is illegal”.
But the Edo State Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice, Henry Idahagbon, said
they did not demolish UNIBEN properties but only
took possession of Edo State government
properties based on a court judgment of
December 16, 2014. He went on: “First of all,
there was no stay of execution and clearly we did
not engage in any demolition of property. What
we did was to take possession of government
property after judgement was validly given by a
competent court of jurisdiction. It is a 65-page
judgement delivered on December 16, 2014
wherein the judge asked UNIBEN to deliver
forthwith possession to the Edo State
government.
“UNIBEN took government to court. They
canvassed five issues and they lost each and
every issue they canvassed. They said the
government of Midwestern Nigeria gave them the
documents. But no documents whatsoever
showed that the land was transferred to them.
They have appealed, there was no copy of stay of
execution. An appeal does not act as stay of
execution. They are just making noise. As I
speak, the four respondents involved in this case,
which include the Edo State government, the
governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the
Attorney-General of the State and the
Commissioner for Lands, have not been served
with any court processes since the 16th day of
December, 2014 when judgment was given.
‘I will resign if…’
“I also want to state categorically that if the
University of Benin and their counsel are able to
show proof of service of any application for stay
of execution of judgment on any of the four
respondents, I Henry Idahagbon will resign as
Attorney-General of Edo State and go back to my
village to farm. They may have filed, that I am
not aware because, after filing, they have to
serve. It is the service of court processes that
invokes the jurisdiction of court. Until a party is
served, the party is known before court and since
the 16th of December when judgment was given,
the case at the High Court effectively ended. If
they are starting any appellate process, the four
people, that is, the respondents mentioned earlier,
must be served personally and none of us has
been served.” He further clarified that what was
done by the state government was not a
demolition exercise but a possession exercise in
pursuant to the court judgment, stressing that the
court gave judgment that UNIBEN and the
occupants of the buildings should deliver
possession forthwith.
He said, “Every hour after the delivery of that
judgment, they ought to have parked their
properties and given up the possession, but
instead, they were insinuating that they are
Federal Government, that they have a hundred
thousand students. For goodness sake, this
country is still being run by the rule of law and no
institution of government, no matter how
powerful, no matter the number of persons under
your control, can be bigger than the government
or the law. Those living in the lodge were given
quit notices since 2011 and the court rightly held
that they were not tenants to Edo State
government but that they were licencee”.
He said, in 1981, UNIBEN had gone to court on
the same matter where in the late Justice
Ugbobine also gave judgment that the properties
did not belong to the University of Benin.
Protest
The demolition of the properties elicited
condemnation from the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in Edo, UNIBEN students and members of
the university’s Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU). The irate students burnt
down a luxury bus belonging to the Edo City
Transport, and blocked the Benin-Lagos Road for
several hours.

sorry sir vc

This is really sad.


Btw, people still bear Hannibal? Na wa o.

The Ex VC is paying for his sins; current VCs should take note. There is an end in every beginning. Do not go all about the place lording people and oppressing them because you are no different from them.

Toh! Looks like this year will be filled with activities... we will see, read and hear the Good, the bad and the ugly. Just don't know where to categorize this one.
Even if the properties belong to the state government, what exactly do they want to do with it by collecting it back?

They just must use their power.

2000 people to recover about 18 houses. Make oshodin go siddon jare. ...

The VC should stop craving for self-pity, the said property has been a litigation matter for long & uniben lost it out, a due process was followed, so why all the noise?

CrAP

So wit all dis demolition jist...wah r d studnts supoze to do...sit n watch or resume to a skul dts dere n nt dere....I mean diz ole shit is confusin