By Charles Igbo
Sighs of relief were heaved across Imo State, and especially, the host Community of Eastern Palm University, when the Imo State Government announced that it has recovered the University from the former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha.
The status of the University has been soaked in controversy, even before Okorocha left office as Imo Governor. While he claimed the University was his, many in the state put a lie to his claim. They insist the University belongs to the Government and the people. They said it was developed, and fully funded with money from the Imo State treasury.
Answering questions from Senior Journalists of Imo State origin a couple of years before he left office, Okorocha tried to clear the controversy surrounding the ownership of the University.
On becoming the Governor, he said, he made to relocate Imo State University, Owerri, to his home town, Ogboko, in Orlu. But, according to him, Owerri people rose in anger, and resisted the move. He discarded the move. But by then, he said his Government had already spent the sum of N650m, to clear the site billed for the aborted relocation.
Okorocha said having aborted that, he then decided to build, privately, a brand new University – the Eastern Palm University, and allocated to the Imo State Government, a stake worth the sum of the N650m that was spent on clearing the site. Meaning that the State, has an insignificant stake in the University.
But not a few people in the State, have, on various occasions, put a lie to Okorocha’s claim.
Conducting Senior Journalists round the State, even a staff of the Imo Ministry of Education, told them in confidence that the University was built with State funds. He said hundreds of millions of state money were spent there. On one occasion, he said, the sum of Three billion Naira, was released for it.
Pleading not to be quoted because “I am a civil servant”, he said it is simple for any serious Government to trace the monies spent, and from where they were sourced.
More important, they insist that the National Universities Commission, NUC, approved the University, as a second University for Imo State, and not as Okorocha’s private University.
At the inception of the former Governor Emeka Ihedioha’s Administration, he had set up a couple of Judicial Commissions of Inquiry to look into a number of grey areas during the Okorocha administration. One of it, Land Use And Related Matters, among other things, looked into the Eastern Palm University, and the controversy surrounding its ownership.
Before the Panel completed its work, Senator Hope Uzodinma succeeded Ihedioha. Okorocha’s expectation that Uzodinma would disband the Judicial Commissions and Panels set up by Ihedioha was dashed. Uzodinma resisted every pressure to do that, insisting that Government is a continuum. He said Imolites will be disappointed with him if he did that. He, also, said that, like every Imo indegene, “I am interested in knowing what happened in Imo under Okorocha.”
Not a few people think that, among a couple of other not very important issues, the non-disbandment of the Commissions and Panels, is at the root of the political bad blood between Uzodinma and Okorocha.
Since the Panel which looked into the ownership of the University submitted its report, most Imo people had been waiting to hear from the Government. Impatient, a group of people from the host Community went to Court, asking it to compel Imo State Government to physically take over the University, or return their acres of land them, which they alleged was taken from them by the Government, under Okorocha, for the University.
A couple of months ago, Okorocha had tangoed with the IMSG when he not only appointed a new Vice Chancellor, but fixed a date for the matriculation of new students. The Government tried to block it. But the matriculation eventually held.
Now, the Government has finally released the White Paper. It is the recommendation that it finally implemented by taking over the University, in a decision on Wednesday,
Deliberating on the White Paper, the State Executive Council, at a meeting, presided over by Governor Uzodinma, resolved on an immediate take over of the institution, dismissing any other claimant, as fraudulent.
The resolve, announced in a Press Release signed by Uzodinma’s Media Adviser/ Chief Press Secretary, Oguwuike Nwachukwu, after a Press briefing by Commissioner for Information, Declan Mbadiwe, said the Government would no longer tolerate any fraudulent claims, warning that the will of the Government should not be tested.
Following is the full text of the Press release, entitled:
Imo State Government Recovers Eastern Palm University from Fraudulent Claimants
“Fraudulent claimants to the state-owned Eastern Palm University at Ogboko, in Orlu, have been warned to stay away from the facility, or be prepared to face the full weight of the law.
“They have also been reminded that the government has been empowered to deal, decisively, with anyone, or group of persons, ready to test the will of government over ownership of the university
“The Executive Council of Imo State took the decision at its weekly meeting of Wednesday, February 10, 2021, presided over by the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma.
“The Council did, while accepting the Whitepaper Report on Land Use and Related Matters which recognizes that the Eastern Palm University is owned by the state.
“It, therefore, resolved that all necessary steps must be taken to recover the University from fraudulent claimants.
“Addressing newsmen at the Government House Owerri, the Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, informed that the Eastern Palm University was accredited by Nigerian University Commission (NUC) as the second Imo State owned University.
“The Whitepaper, according to the Commissioner, recommended that the University should be recovered and appropriately designated as a State University in accordance with the laid down guidelines of NUC.
“Consequently, Council has directed the relevant Ministries to take immediate steps to implement the decisions of the Executive Council as they concern the Whitepaper Report.
“Buttressing the Whitepaper report, the Executive Council stressed that Eastern Palm University was not only registered with NUC as second Imo State University, but was built and funded with Imo State tax payers money, hence government will not waste time to implement the recommendations of the Whitepaper.
“Emelumba said that in the nearest future, government will decide on what to do with the University and that the people of Imo State will be informed appropriately.
“Now that the University has been recovered and returned to the State, anybody seen at the site or premises parading himself or herself in any manner in terms of ownership or otherwise will be dealt with decisively.”
On the plight of the students and workers, the Commissioner said the Council assuaged their fears, noting that none of them will be made to suffer for anything they are innocent of.
He added that the relevant Ministries and Agencies have been charged to handle such cases as they may be applicable to the full implementation of the Whitepaper.
But an American-trained Barrister- at- Law, and an Imo son, Dr Alloy Ejimakor, is of the opinion that the State Government has bungled its case.
He told this magazine: “They bungled it. The State should have filed an action for forfeiture based on the White Paper. You can’t take someone else’s property without a Court Order.
“The Commission was not a Court in the sense contemplated in the Constitution on ‘siezures/forfeitures’. Okorocha has what is known in property law as Bonafide Claim of Right.”
But an Imo elder countered: “Okorocha, from the beginning, had no claim of right. The University has always been the property of the Imo State Government.”
Already, Okorocha has urged everybody to totally ignore the Imo State Government directive on the University. He, sure, will be headed for court.
