‎Sanusi to emerge UNIBEN chancellor

The management of the University of Benin, Edo State, on Monday said that the university has concluded plans to install the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, as the 9th Chancellor ‎of the institution.

Sanusi Lamido

‎The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Faraday Orunmwense, who announced this at a press briefing in Benin, noted that the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor would be formally installed on November 25, 2015, during the university’s 41st Convocation and 45th Founders’ Day ceremony.

Orunmwense explained that out of a total of 11,020 graduands, 64 would be conferred with a First Class degree, while 7,034 persons would graduate with other classes of first degrees on November 26 and 27, with a convocation lecture to be delivered by a former Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji.

Also to be awarded are 382 and 2,212 doctorate and master’s degrees, while the institution will confer honorary degress on the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, and a constant gynaecologist, Professor Osato Giwa, on November 28.

‎The Vice-Chancellor, who attributed the achievements of the university to the support of the Federal Government and the dedication of the management, staff and students of the institution, said the five-day ceremony would begin with an interdenominational service on Monday.

‎Sanusi to emerge UNIBEN chancellor

Jonathan appoints Emir Sanusi as UNIBEN pro-chancellor

The former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Muhammad Sanusi II), has been appointed as the pro-chancellor of the University of Benin, Edo State.

Sanusi received his letter of appointment at his palace on Monday from the Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau. The former CBN boss who raised the issue of the missing money at NNPC, said it is good to always do good.

“I’m saying this because as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria then, I came to the rescue of the university by spending N500 million to construct a bridge yearned for by the university for over 30 years.

“If at that time one told me I would reap the reward of that job almost immediately I would not agree, but today, in Allah’s favour, I’m being appointed the pro-chancellor of the university, something that is telling one that he should always think of being good not only to his close people but to everybody far and near,” he said.

 

Jonathan appoints Emir Sanusi as UNIBEN pro-chancellor

Oshiomhole should retrace his steps - UNIBEN

The University of Benin has demanded that the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, rebuild and hand over to the university the 18 bungalows the state government demolished at the Government Reservation Area in Benin.

UNIBEN

Authorities of the UNIBEN said rebuilding the bungalows by Oshiomhole was the only solution to the lingering crisis between the university and the state government.

The counsel for the university, Mr. Hannibal Uwaifo, stated this on Wednesday while briefing journalists in Lagos.

The buildings, occupied by some staff of the university, were reportedly demolished by the state government on January 5 following the judgment of a Benin High Court   that the buildings belonged to the government.

The demolition has however sparked crisis in the state, including a protest by students of UNIBEN, who reportedly set ablaze a mass transit bus belonging to the state government.

Speaking on behalf of the university, Uwaifo said the crisis might continue except Oshiomhole devised a way of meeting with the university authorities for settlement.

He said, “The governor has to douse the tension by calling the people together. My client, the University of Benin, has told me very clearly that they are ready for settlement if the governor can restore the property to the university.

“The university said it is even ready to thank the governor. The university is ready to do anything that the governor wishes for the betterment of the state.

“If he as the father of the state can retrace his steps immediately and urgently meet the university authorities, study their papers, court judgment or no court judgment, then normalcy would be restored to the state. He is the cause of the entire problem.

“So, the university is urging the students to remain calm, not to resort to anything that is in violation of the law despite the fact that the state government has violated the law. Two wrongs cannot make a right. But how long can the university continue to prevail on people who feel completely cheated or offended?”

Uwaifo said the state government acted hastily by moving in to demolish the contentious buildings when the 90 days allowed by the law for appeal had not been exhausted.

According to Uwaifo, after the judgment was given on December 16, the university had immediately filed an appeal on December 17 and followed by application for stay of execution on December 19 but the state government had claimed not to have been served the processes.

“But the issue of whether the processes were properly served or not resides with the court, and not with any of the parties. If by the time we get to court and the court says these processes were not properly served, that would have been the case. But the Edo State government led by Governor Adams Oshiomhole and some thugs went hastily to demolish the buildings,” Uwaifo said.

He debunked the claim by the state government that the university had been intending to sell off the properties.

Oshiomhole should retrace his steps - UNIBEN

Oshiomhole accuses PDP of funding UNIBEN to cause trouble

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The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Saturday accused the Peoples Democratic Party of planning to use a section of students of the University of Benin to unleash mayhem on innocent people in the state following the disagreement between the state government and the institution over property ownership.

Oshiomhole

Oshiomhole, who stated this in Benin during a television broadcast to the people of the state, alleged that the leadership of the PDP in the state had held series of meetings at the residence of one of the candidates of the party, where it planned to recruit students and thugs to raze petrol tankers in strategic parts of the state capital, which could lead to the loss of innocent lives and property.

He alleged that huge sums of money had been provided by the opposition party for the students to mobilise more people as the they resumed today (Saturday)‎, so “that by Monday, they will mobilise enough students with these funds provided by the leadership of the opposition party in this state to cause mayhem in Benin City.‎”

He added, “Part of the plan is that these students, working and providing cover for party thugs, will hijack petrol tankers, block roads with them and they anticipate rightly that the security agencies would resist them. They plan to set these tankers ablaze and, in the process, create confusion.

“And in their estimation, this could easily lead to loss of lives. And of course, they believe rightly that, once there is loss of lives, the situation would escalate and they believe they could profit from such violence.

“They are determined to hide under the cover of this issue between the University of Benin Management and Edo State Government to create a crisis and cause diversion, the governor said.”

Efforts to get the reaction of the state leadership of the PDP were unsuccessful as the party was said to be holding a zonal stakeholders meeting at the time of filing the report.

Students of the institution had, on January 6, protested the demolition of the residential quartres of their lecturers by the state government.

The students were also alleged to have s‎et a state mass transit bus ablaze, which was used to barricade a section of the Benin-Lagos Expressway, locking down traffic for several hours.

Both the leadership of the PDP and the A‎ll Progressives Congress had also traded words of the demolition.

But the governor reiterated that the action of the state government was in the interest of the people of the state and advised the students not to allow themselves to be used by politicians on an issue which did involve the students community.

‎He also urged the opposition party not to put their selfish interests over and above the security of innocent people, adding that the security agencies had beeen alerted to maintain law and order.

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Oshiomhole accuses PDP of funding UNIBEN to cause trouble

UNIBEN: APC, PDP trade blames over demolition

The All Progressives Congress have traded blames of the demolition of the residential quartres of staff of the University of Benin by the Edo State Government and the protests that followed.

UNIBEN

It would be recalled that both staff and students of UNIBEN had on Tuesday protested the demolition of over 15 residential bungalows at the General Residential Area in Benin by the state government.

The protest, however, turned violent when some persons, alleged to be students of the university set ablaze a government mass transit bus on the Benin-Lagos expressway on Wednesday and barricaded the busy road for several hours.

The State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, had earlier condemned the action of the state government,whom he accused of taking the state to the “Stone Age.”

“What happened is sad, barbaric and has brought the state back to 20 years and has reminded us of the Stone Age,” he said.

The leadership of the APC, however, accused Orbih of using a faction of the Students Union Government of the university to destroy government property.

The State Chairman, Mr. Anselm Ojezua, in statement in Benin, also called for the arrest of the PDP Chairman and other leaders of the party “for sponsoring arson,” adding that the APC was aware of the plans by the opposition party to “inject thugs into the ranks of students of the university” and unleash mayhem on unsuspecting members of the public.

Ojezua said, “We call on the Commissioner of Police, Edo State, to arrest and interrogate Mr. Orbih and other PDP leaders for sponsoring arson and stop their further plan to create mayhem in the state.

“It is sad that in the name of politics, Mr. Orbih has resorted to crude tactics and is planning to unleash PDP thugs on hapless people of the state. We call on the Commissioner of Police to act fast as the APC would not fold its hands and watch Dan Orbih and his thugs make the state ungovernable.”

Reacting, however, Orbih debunked the allegation and accused the State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, of precipitating the crisis.

“It was the governor’s action that precipitated the crisis. So, the police should arrest the governor and others to account for his action in ordering the demolition of the University of Benin property,” he said.

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UNIBEN: APC, PDP trade blames over demolition

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.

Oshiomhole

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”

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UNIBEN got 3-yr notice to vacate govt property, says Oshiomhole

UNIBEN VC urges staff, students to promote university culture

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin, Professor Godwin Oshodin, has urged staff and students of the university to promote the communal culture of the institution by availing themselves of the various facilities provided within the university.

Professor Oshodin made this known during the commissioning of an Automated Teller Machine gallery, bus shelter and green park built by Fidelity Bank Plc in the university’s main campus.

The vice-chancellor described the facility, which also provides free WIFI internet service and an a phone charge hub, as an edifice which would cater for the financial needs of the students.

While urging members of the university community to make good use of the facility, Oshodin said that it would reduce the risk involved in the withdrawal of large sums of money outside the university.

“Any student, instead of going to town, can just cash money right here. The internet service is free, you can charge your phone and relax while waiting for a bus. These will benefit the students and staff and we thank Fidelity for that.

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UNIBEN VC urges staff, students to promote university culture

Cultists kill 300 level UNIBEN student

By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN CITY—There was tension at the University of Benin, Uniben, weekend after the gruesome murder of a 300-level student of the Department of Chemistry, Mr Gendedio Ejyrognene.

Cult clash

It was learned that the deceased was gunned down at about 7pm Friday night by suspected cultists.

The University Deputy Registrar/ Public Relations Officer, Harris Osaze Osarenren, who confirmed the killing of the student in a statement, lamented that “UNIBEN has lost a student.”

While disclosing that the university authorities and the police were investigating the incident, the statement disclosed that the body had been deposited at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital mortuary.

Meanwhile, women and students of the university held a rally weekend commending the Federal Government for the transparent manner Prof. Faraday Orumwense emerged as the new vice chancellor of the university.

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Cultists kill 300 level UNIBEN student

Stampede as UNIBEN screens fresh student, one feared dead

 

Barely two weeks after about 19 persons died in stampedes in stadia across the country during recruitment exercise for employment into Nigerian Immigrations Service, there was heavy stampede Wednesday  at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), during screening of fresh students.

It was gathered that scores of students sustained varying and “very serious” degrees of injuries in the stampede, just as one was rumored dead.

Eye witnesses said the stampede occurred when the students were attempting to force their way into the premises of the hall where the screening exercise was taking place, and UNIBEN security personnel forcefully closed the gate against them, forcing the surging students to fall, and hundreds of them marching on those on the ground.

When our reporter visited the university Wednesday morning, it was observed that thousands of the applicants who besieged the Akin Deko auditorium-venue of the screening were still at the two gates leading to the premises to the hall.

It was observed that the iron barricade of the western gate is turned and broken and almost to the ground, even as students still held on to it as they try to get their way into the hall.

One of the applicants who gave her name simply as Osas for fear of been victimized, described what happened as “horrible and hellish.”

“It was a terrible thing and so serious. It began when the students were attempting to enter into the hall and the security men said no. It was then that some of the students attempted to force their way into the place and the security men forcefully closed the gates on them. That is how hundreds of them fell, some this side and others that side.

“Those who got up marched on those still on the ground to get out of the confusion. Several people who were injured were rushed to the hospital, but am not sure anyone died, though many of them were seriously injured,” Osas said.

Meanwhile the University’s Public Relations Officer, Barr. Harrison Osarenren, denied that  nobody died at the screening (0)

Stampede as UNIBEN screens fresh student, one feared dead