The people of Ikole-Ekiti, Ekiti State, have
dragged the state government to court to stop the relocation of the
federal university from the town to Oye-Ekiti. Two persons were killed
early February during a protest by Ikole people, who were angered by
the reported announcement of Oye, a neighbouring town, as the new host
of the university.
The university is one of the nine recently
established by the federal government. The state government picked
Ikole-Ekiti as the host of the institution, but federal officials
preferred Oye Ekiti, further cementing the bad blood between the Action
Congress of Nigeria-led state government and members of the PDP.
In order to ensure that the school remains in
their community, some indigenes of Ikole have filed a suit at the
Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti, seeking an order to have the university
retained on their land. The plaintiffs in the suit are Ranti Adebisi,
Adebayo Morakinyo, Dele Osire, and Bisi Abegunde, who are suing for and
on behalf of the Ikole community.
The defendants are the Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice (1st), Minister of Education (2nd),
National Universities Commission (3rd), Ekiti State Attorney General
and Commissioner for Justice (4th), and Ekiti State governor (5th).
Among the reliefs being sought by the plaintiffs
are an order prohibiting and restraining the defendants, whether by
themselves, their agents, servants or privies, from relocating or
giving effect to any purported relocation of the said federal
university from Ikole to Oye or to any other place at all.
They are also seeking a declaration that by virtue
of Sections 1, 2 and 28 (4) of the Land Use Act (Cap. L5 LFN 2004), it
is the prerogative of the 5th defendant to allocate, approve, and make
land available to the Federal Government of Nigeria for the
establishment of a federal university in Ekiti State.
Reliefs galore
Another relief being sought by the plaintiffs is a
declaration that the Ikole community, having provided and allocated
land for the new federal university and the grant of the Certificate of
Occupancy over the said land for that purpose by the 5th defendant in
favour of the 2nd defendant which grant is subsisting, the defendants
acting jointly or severally cannot relocate the varsity from Ikole to
Oye.
The plaintiffs also want the court to declare that
having allocated and granted land for the new university in their
hometown, and having done all that is reasonably necessary for its take
off, the Ikole community has acquired vested interest over the location
of the said university, maintaining that the interest cannot be
abrogated by the purported relocation.
They also want a declaration that the defendants are restrained by
the doctrine of Estoppel from relocating the university to Oye or any
other town after the 2nd and 3rd defendants had inspected and approved
Ikole as the location for the university and its subsequent approval by
the Federal Government.
