UNIBEN sues Edo over ejection threat

Benin - The authorities of University of Benin (UNIBEN) have sued the Edo Government over its threat to evict its workers from their houses in Benin. When the suit came up for hearing on Monday, the  judge, Justice Esohe Ikponmwen, adjourned the matter to March 22 to enable counsel to both parties to exchange pleadings on issues to be determined in court. Ikponmwen advised both parties to maintain the status quo, adding that the motion on notice by the claimants should be kept in abeyance while their counsel should concentrate on accelerated hearing of the suit. “There is no need to dissipate energy on the motion of interlocutory injunction. "Both parties should exchange pleadings within three days on issues for determination,” she said. She ruled after the arguments by counsel to the claimants, Kolawole Okeaya- Inneh (SAN), and Omoruyi Omonuwa (SAN), the counsel for the state government, on the issue. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the university workers have been occupying 18 houses located at the Government Reservation Area in Benin. The landed properties were said to have been donated  to the institution in 1974 by the Samuel Ogbemudia administration on the establishment of Mid-West Institute of Technology, now upgraded to UNIBEN. The university claimed that its workers had been under threat of being denied ownership of the houses since the inception of the administration of  Mr Adams Oshiomhole.