University of Benin (UNIBEN) students protested last week the demolition of the quarters of former Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Osayuki Oshodin and some lecturers. They blocked the Ugbowo-Lagos road and burnt a government bus, reports MATTHEW AJAKAIYE.
WHEN he left last December after a five-year tenure, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) Prof Osayuki Oshodin was looking forward to a well deserved rest in his official quarters in Benin GRA. Last Monday, he and some senior lecturers and staff were ejected from the quarters by the Edo State government.
Parts of their buildings was pulled down.
According to the affected staff, the controversial properties were given to UNIBEN by former military governor, Dr Samuel Ogbemudia in 1970. In its bid to reclaim the properties, the government served a quit notice on the school. The occupants went to court and during the pendency of their case, they remained in the quarters.
Last Monday, Governor Adams Oshiomhole ordered their ejection and the demolition of the properties, claiming to be carrying out a court order. But, the occupants described the government’s action as contemptuous as an appeal was pending over the matter.
Describing the action as humiliation of their lecturers, students took to the streets the following day. No fewer than 25 lecturers joined in the demonstration, which later turned violent. The protesters, led by Students’ Union Government (SUG) officials, blocked the Ugbowo-Lagos expressway, causing traffic gridlock.
They chanted solidarity songs to draw attention to the “humiliation” of their lecturers.
Commuters walked from Oluku community before they could cut through the students’ roadblocks to get buses to their destinations. Travellers turned and took the Benin Bypass from Oluku; others made a detour to BDPA Road, which was not motorable.
An Edo Intra-City Bus Transport Service (ECTS) was destroyed by the protesters and set ablaze. The presence of over 30 riot policemen and soldiers, including a Deputy Commissioner of Police could not stop the protesters.
The students demanded that the governor apologise for ejecting their lecturers. They also gave him a 24-day ultimatum to rebuild the demolished houses.
Mr Anthony Emina, a member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UNIBEN Chapter, accused Oshiomhole of disrespecting the court on the disputed properties. He said ASUU, last December, raised concern over the alleged harassment of its members by suspected thugs over the properties.
Emina said the harassment prompted the management to appeal the verdict that the government should demolish the properties. He accused the governor of taking the law into his hands.
He said: “They sent thugs to forcefully evict our members and beat them up.
“We are on the streets to let the whole world know how Oshiomhole is treating UNIBEN lecturers. Vehicles belonging to ASUU were destroyed and our members were injured by the hoodlums sent by the government.
One of the injured is in hospital.”
The protesters, who described Oshodin, as their father, accused Oshiomhole of embarrassing the “world-class scholar”.
“You need to see the way they evicted him (Prof Oshodin) out of the house in humiliation,” one of the protesters told CAMPUSLIFE.
There was altercation between students and soldiers during the demonstration. The protesters did not clear the way for a convoy of soldiers. This led the convoy escorts to fire shots to disperse the students. The students mocked the soldiers, saying: “You cannot kill all of us.” The soldiers waited until the protesters left the road.
Oshiomhole said the demolished properties were in the government’s name, noting that rents were paid to the wrong person. He said: “They have occupied these properties before without paying any rent to the Edo State government. Before I came as governor, the Federal Government, in line with the policy of monetisation under which salaries of employees and other allowances were paid, abolished the policies. So, rather than provide for these 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 occupied by public officers having monetised the allowances of such officers, the Federal Government and some of its agencies had published their intention to sell off the houses that were previously occupied by public officers. Edo State was not left out.”
The governor said on assumption of office, the Legal Adviser to the UNIBEN, Chief Okeaye Inneh, SAN, approached him to sign documents that would enable the transfer of the property to the university. Oshiomhole said he declined, adding: “I told the lawyer that if UNIBEN needed any favour, they should not approach me through their Legal Adviser”.
He said he was informed by Attorney-General, Henry Idahagbon, that UNIBEN had decided to go to court over the properties.
Oshiomhole added: “We went with them and won the case. On December 16, 2014, Justice E.O. Ahamigo of the High Court ruled in favour of the Edo State government and ordered UNIBEN to vacate the property and give possession to us. We gave the occupants three years notice to vacate the properties. Is that not enough? What happened on Monday was taking possession of the state government’s properties based on the court ruling and not demolition of UNIBEN property as claimed by them.”
Inneh said the varsity appealed the judgment giving the properties to Edo State, accusing the attorney-General of misleading the government on the case. He displayed the appeal documents to reporters, saying the government erred on the demolition.
Idahagbon, however, said the government was not aware of any appeal.
The SUG President, Ifidon Ikhide, condemned the government’s action, saying it was carried out to embarrass the former VC.
The Coalition of Presidents of Colleges of Education in the state condemned the protest, calling for Ifidon’s arrest. The students spoke when they presented an Award of Excellence to Oshiomhole last Friday in recognition of his effort in boosting education.
The group’s leader, Friday Okoro, said: “The protest is senseless and barbaric. The bus they burnt will not carry Oshiomhole or any of his family. It is the masses that use the bus. Ifidon and those involved in the protest should be arrested to pay for their crime.”
Some of the protesters said they did not organise the protest to cause violence, saying the demonstration was hijacked by hoodlums.
Some UNIBEN students, also criticised Ifidon the protest, describing it as needless. Precious Abiodun, a student, said: “Where was the SUG when students were chased away from the hostel last session and made to spend the night outside, for over a week? Where was the SUG when school security officers disrupted church fellowships? Where was the SUG when the transfer fees was increased from N20,000 to N50,000?”
