Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka has made it categorically clear that he will sell Tansian University to recover all the money the university owes him for using his property Ranet Industries at Oba as a take-off campus.
Ezeonwuka who told our correspondent that he owns 81% equity shares of the university because of his landed property worth over N2 Billion, revealed that the management of Tansian University has reneged in the payment of honorarium to him as clearly enunciated in a consent judgement from the court.
He said the consent judgement clearly stipulated that Tansian University would pay him an honorarium for 25 years and thereafter vacate his property at Oba Idemili-South Local Government Area and relocate to their main campus at Umunya in Oyi Local Government Area of the state.
He therefore recalled that the said consent judgement was reached in 2010 and the university paid him an honorarium up to 2015 and stopped thereafter following the advice one Fr. Obiora gave Johnbosco Akam that he could challenge the consent judgement which Ogidi High Court rejected.
Be that as it may, Ogidi High Court ruled that Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka should sell off the university and recover all the unpaid honorarium accruing to him as contained in the consent judgment since the university has violated the orders of the court by reneging in the payment of the agreed honorarium.
To set the records straight, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka stated that he established Tansian University alongside late Rev. Prof. Johnbosco Akam and that it is in the records of the National Universities Commission (NUC) that he is the financier of the university and equally brought in other investors to the university.
Ezeonwuka said, ” I used my factory Ranet Industries at Oba to establish the take off campus of Tansian University. We were given a license to run the university. So eventually John Bosco Akam was playing tricks that his congregation can own the university and tried to scheme me out.
We had a court case at Ogidi High Court, which he had Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) as his attorney and I had Nnamdi Ibegbu (SAN) as my attorney. I won the priest at the court and even when the equity was calibrated, it was discovered that I had 81% because of my contributions and Johnbosco Akam had only 13% while other people had some percentages.
Dr. Eloka Menakaya and some other persons brought in Umunya land which was not adequately paid for. They now brought in my Ranet Industry property worth over N2 Billion as the take off campus.
The NUC told Johnbosco Akam that if he can not accommodate the equity shares, they will close down the university. So they pleaded that we should settle out of court and we settled out of court while he pays me for my property.
Now, instead of calling it rent; the law establishing a university says a university can not be sited where it is paying rent. So it was classified as an honorarium.
Johnbosco Akam will be paying me an honorarium on my property. N10 Million every year and I will hands off of my property for him and I can increase the amount after 5 years. After 25 years, he will now get out of my property completely and go to their permanent site at Umunya. That was the agreement we had.
We agreed that we shall charge N5000 sports development levy from the 3000 students it had then. Now if 3000 students pay N5000 each for a year, it will be N150 Million and we share it equal; so what am supposed to be getting from Tansian University is N75 Million plus N10 Million; that is N85 Million every year and I said it is ok with me. Then we signed the agreement which was prepared by his lawyer and my lawyer.
Thereafter we took the agreement to the court and stamped it as a consent judgement. The person who stamped the agreement as an order of the court is the current Chief Judge of Anambra State Justice Anyachebelu.”
Ezeonwuka further disclosed that the late Johnbosco Akam began to celebrate at Uga that he was no longer fighting to own Tansian University and that he is the sole owner of the university. He paid him an honorarium for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and stopped paying till date.
According to him, a certain Fr. Obiora who returned from the United States of America to Nigeria, decided to reverse the consent judgement on the condition that the university’s meagre resources could no longer cater for the yearly honorarium of Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka.
He said they approached the court again because the university failed to pay him his honorarium and the Court ruled that he should sack them from the University and sell off their property to recover his money.
Professor Nduka Uraih who was the then Vice Chancellor of Tansian University when the consent judgement was reached, said what happened was that the matter has been settled with a 25-year lease and it was agreed that a certain some of money should be paid to Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka and it became a consent judgement and they all signed it.
Uraih informed our correspondent that he was the Vice Chancellor on sit when the consent judgement was signed and he was one of the signatories to it. He said no one can say or do otherwise because he was a witness and could recall what transpired between Tansian University and Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka vividly.
Again, a former Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols of Tansian University, Mr. Chidi Peters Okorie told our correspondent that it was true that a consent judgement was reached where the court-mandated the university to be paying Ezeonwuka honorarium on his property.
The former spokesman of the university recalled that at inception, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka was the financier; one Nze Obiora came in as the Director of Physical Planning and Johnbosco Akam came in as the initiator. Okorie said they all went to Abuja to file the first academic planning which has to do with the premises of Ranet Industries at Oba.
According to him, Ezeonwuka brought in money and Johnbosco Akam brought in money and they began renovation of Ranet Industries properties at Oba. He said thereafter Oba Microfinance Bank came in and said they were being owed by Ranet Industries and that the property is being encumbered.
NUC according to him said a university can not be established on an encumbered property; so Johnbosco Akam offset the bill with Oba Microfinance Bank and the bank gave Johnbosco Akam the entire property and everything about Ranet Industries complex which he said Akam took to Abuja with the consent of Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka and they began the business of Tansian University.
Okorie however disclosed that everything turned sour when Ezeonwuka’s property at Oba which was supposed to serve as the take-off campus was expunged and Ezeonwuka, Nze Ralph Obiora, Andy Uba and one other were sidelined; which he said brought the issue of Johnbosco Akam saying that he bought Ezeonwuka’s property at Oba.
The Tansian University ex-Public Relations Officer said Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka filed a court case to make it clear to Johnbosco Akam that they were partners in the business. This according to him, brought in the likes of Chief Eloka Menakaya, Andy Uba and other stakeholders who invested in the university.
That at some point Tansian University was on the verge of collapse because the university was hijacked by some cabals and they had no other option but to have a consent agreement with Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka who said since Johnbosco Akam offset the debt owed Oba Microfinance Bank to rescue his property, they should now have a rent but the NUC according to him, said there is nothing like rent but let it be an honorarium of N10 Million every year.
That out of the N10 Million, N8 Million will be paid to Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka while the remaining N2 Million will serve as instalment repayment Johnbosco Akam used in rescuing Ezeonwuka’s property from Oba Microfinance Bank.
He said the first year was paid. The second year was paid. The third and fourth year were paid but on the fifth year problem ensued and Johnbosco Akam stopped paying the yearly honorarium and instituted another legal action against Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka that the consent judgment should be void.
Okorie disclosed further that the consent judgement was signed by the then Vice Chancellor Prof. Nduka Uraih, the CSO of the university Revd Fr. Elijah, the university lawyer Barr. Nwankwo(SAN), Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka and others.
That efforts made by Johnbosco Akam to quash the consent judgement were futile because Ezeonwuka’s bills have accumulated so much and the High Court has given Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka judgement to confiscate the moveable and immovable property of Tansian University to get his money back and the university lawyer Obiora has gone to Appeal Court to appeal the judgement.
The former PRO of the university reiterated that the consent judgement ordering Tansian University to pay yearly honorarium to Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka still subsists and until the consent judgement is quashed and the honorarium nullified from the consent judgement, the truth of the matter remains that Tansian University is owing Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka years of unpaid honorarium and that the court has granted him permission to sell the university to recover his money.
Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka on the other hand revealed that about N14. 5 Million was indebted to Oba Micro Finance Bank and the said amount was paid to the bank on instruction of Ezeonwuka to enable NUC endorse the approval of the university licence. Ezeonwuka maintained that Oba Microfinance Bank did not sell the property to Johnbosco Akam and as a matter of fact the property given out was about 25 percent area of the entire Ranent Properties used to host Tansian University.
Meanwhile Dr. Eloka Chijioke Menakaya, who told our correspondent that he was a pioneer member at Tansian University, said it was rather unfortunate that himself, one V.V.I Okoye and some others were laid off unceremoniously by Tansian University after their efforts and sacrifices in bringing the university to limelight. He said no personal recognition was given to them instead they were shown the exit by those whom he said hijacked the university.
According to him, it is equally unfortunate that Tansian University is fighting Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka who gave them land upon which the university took off at Oba.
When contacted also V.V.I Okoye, who is a pioneer board member of Tansian University, now an octogenarian, described Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka as a very good man and does not deserve the kind of maltreatment meted out on him by the university he was instrumental to its birth.
Reacting to the foregoing, one of the Directors and member of Board of Trustees of Tansian University, Rev. Innocent Uke, said it is subjudis to meddle with a matter that is before the Federal Court of Appeal and that only the court can decide the fate of the university.
While the High Court has granted Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka leave to confiscate Tansian University to recover his money, the management of the university relies heavily on the judgement of the Federal Appeal Court to determine the ownership of the university and wether it would continue to obey the obligations of the consent judgement which is still subsisting.
Ezeonwuka on the other hand is of the opinion that should the consent judgement be quashed, he would not only sell the university but also revert back and take full ownership of Tansian University because he has 81% shares of the business.
Again he explained that it was part of the stipulations of the consent judgement that he should hands off the university while they pay him yearly honorarium but if the judgement is eventually terminated by the court, he would take full ownership of the university because the property rightfully belongs to him.