UGBOWO community leaders led by Elder Benjamin Iyase have condemned in strong terms the illegal and criminal conversion of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital land allocated to the then-defunct Bendel State Government in 1969 into private use.
In a petition addressed to the Nigeria Federal Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate; the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC); Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Chairman, Senate Committee on Health
Chairman, House Committee on Health in House of Representatives, Senator Aliyu Oshiomole, Senator Nada Imasuen, Hon. Murphy Omoruyi, House of Representatives, Hon. Natasha Osawaru, Chief Medical Director (CMD), University of Benin Teaching Hospital, by Pa Andrew Ifaluyi Ekue, the Odionwere of Ugbowo Community, Elder Benjamin Iyase, Hon. Osawonyi Ojo, and Chief Osemwengie Ero, the Edobayokhai of Benin Kingdom, made available to Trojaninsights.com, the group calls for urgent intervention in the interest of peace.
The community, in their petition, berated Mrs. Christabel Itohan Oluku, University of Benin Teaching Hospital management staff, for using her husband, who is a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at the Esigie Police Station, Benin City, to harass, intimidate and coerce the Ugbowo community leaders for asking for the return of their land because there was no initial compensation from the late General Osaigbovo Ogbemudia government to the host community.
The group, in their list, included the names of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development staff in Edo State, who are involved in the illegal conversion of government land to include Mrs. Christabel Itohan Osawaru Oluku; Mr. Abu Jeremiah, Mr. Sylvester Ineyen, Barr. Uyi Okhiria, Prof. Waziri Erameh, Prof. Olusoji, and Dr. Osawonyi Irowa of Irowa hospital’s fame.
“We, the indigenous people of Ugbowo Community (the ancestral home of our forebears), bring this petition against the management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), particularly Mrs. CHRISTABEL ITOHAN OSAWARU OLUKU and the management staff of the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development (Benin Zone).
“BACKGROUND FACTS:
On the 11th day of November, 1969, the government of the former Midwestern State of Nigeria acquired a large expanse of our land at Ugbowo Community. It was our understanding as gazetted that the land will be used for PUBLIC PURPOSE ABSOLUTELY, particularly the establishment of University of Benin (UNIBEN), Ugbowo Campus, and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), both of which are public institutions that later built on parts of the said land.
“However, the unexhausted part of the acquired land has since been subjected to the nefarious activities of land grabbers, land speculators and fraudulent sales by some senior staff of the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Benin zone, acting in collaboration with some top management staff of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), using forged documents, to unsuspecting members of the public and converting the illegal proceeds for their personal use.
“Emphatically, we find it curious that persons involved in this illegal enterprise are in the employment of University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) and the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Secretariat, Ikpoba Hill, Benin City (i.e., Mr. Abu Jeremiah, Mr. Sylvester INEYEN, Mrs. Christabel Itohan Oluku, Barr. Uyi Okhiria. Others are Prof. Waziri Erameh, Prof. Olusoji, Dr. Osawonyi Irowa, and the MD Irowa hospital off first and off Sapele Road.
“All these people, no one has less than 30 plots.
Interestingly, we have facts and evidence (some of which are attached to this petition) that these persons who pretend to be acting for their employers have applied the proceeds of their crime in erecting colossal mansions and in the pursuit of frivolous and extravagant obsessions.
“STEPS TAKEN SO FAR:
Upon becoming aware of the fraudulent and illegal activities, we made a decision to engage them peacefully, which decision cumulated in several meetings and exchanges of correspondences.
“However, many of such proposed engagements were disdainfully rebuffed and snubbed by them. Nonetheless, in some of our meetings with the senior staff of Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, we were told to our annoyance, discomfort and surprise that the land, having been acquired by the Federal Government, can be dealt with by these persons in whatsoever way and manner they deem fit, including the unauthorized, unjustifiable outright sales and in manners inconsistent with the public interest for which the lands were acquired and that we have nothing to do about it.
“It is pertinent to state that we find this approach grossly provocative, insensitive and daring. However, rather than act impulsively to this provocation, we chose the path of peaceful engagement, notwithstanding our knowledge of the fact that the original acquisition had even been done forcefully by Fiat and without any records of compensation.
“Now, having exhausted all entreaties and overtures made at getting them to stop the continuous illegal sales of the land under the cover of the much bandied “allocation”, we decided to enlist the service of a legal practitioner to help us institute a suit in pursuit of justice.
“In order to forestall a breakdown of law and order, retaliation and reprisal by the parties involved, the court, in its wisdom and due exercise of its jurisdiction, imposed an interim restraining order binding on all parties, pending the determination of the suit.
“While we act in obedience to the order and patiently await the outcome of the suit as law-abiding and peace-loving people, we are shocked to realize that the other people have consistently acted in blatant disregard of the restraining order as they continue to sell parts of the land to unsuspecting members of the public, resulting in massive constructions and developments on the land.
“In a peaceful reaction to these utterly provocative actions, we erected CAVEAT billboards in several strategic locations around the land but the same were vandalised and stolen by those involved.
“We thereafter reported them to the court, police, DSS and EFCC, but nothing was achieved. Sir, as we write, building constructions are still being done on the land without restraints in violation of the restraining order of the court, with the result that the confidence of our angry youths in the justice system is gradually, but consistently, being eroded and the option of self-help is becoming more attractive.
“It is beyond argument that our youths, in the face of these developments, now feel cheated, helpless and angry, and it is in our efforts to prevent the likely breakdown of law and order thereby that we have chosen to write to you for your possible intervention.
“The KERNEL of this petition is to frantically draw your attention to the brute and coercive use of the men of the Nigeria Police in the most oppressive, harassing and fact-distorting ways against our people—especially those in the vanguard of our struggle—by one Mrs. CHRISTABEL ITOHAN OSAWARU OLUKU.
“The woman whose husband is the DPO of Esigie police divisional headquarters in Benin City is a staff member of UBTH. She has vowed to continue to use the influence of her husband in the police force to harass, intimidate and arrest us using various trumped-up allegations due to her excessive but unjustifiable interest in the said land.
“We have it on good authority that the reason she has become so desperate in the pursuit of this unrighteous course is because of the impact the success of our case in court will have on the over 20% of the land she sold to unsuspecting members of the public in connivance with some top management staff of the Federal Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development (Benin zone) using unauthorized allocation paper. As a civil servant and some of her co – travellers, we consider these rather reprehensible actions as a barefaced betrayal of public trust, official corruption and abuse of office.
“In conclusion, we sincerely implore you to use your good office to rein in Mrs. Christabel Itohan Osawaru Oluku on her abusive deployment of the Nigeria Police against our people. Also in seeking and/or effecting a peaceful resolution of the matter timeously in the interest of the overall peace of the State,” the petitioners wrote.
When contacted by Trojaninsights.com, the Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, neither confirmed the acknowledgment of a protest letter allegedly sent to his office last week by Ugbowo community leaders from Edo State nor admitted knowing anything about the existence of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital land conversation for private use.
