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 he 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 propertiesto 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”

uniben management over to you

Is Uniben not a govt sch?

Where are dem Benin witches n wizards

the most annoying part is that some uniben students have been protesting foolishly for a case they know nothing about even went ahead to burn a bus. now they are planning another protest tomorrow courtesy SUG. UNIBEN SUG training thugs since 12A.D clueless excos like oga wen dy on top

Wrong timing, the demolition should ve being after election.

from the go and die incident to the manner which he banned okada oshomole has always displayed his wiccked nature

How do you destroy a house when the court judgement was given on the 16th december.

And they were all shouting oshiomhole is flouting court order, wel i kn is PDP hand work.

stanech:
from the go and die incident to the manner which he banned okada oshomole has always displayed his wiccked nature

How do you destroy a house when the court judgement was given on the 16th december.

Did you read what is up there at all?

beopened:


Did you read what is up there at all?

i dont have to. I just know Oshomole is a wicked man even before he became governor.. i never trusted that man