By Chuks Eke

A group of Blessed Fr. Michael Iwene Tansi Movement, under the aegis of Missionary Sons of Tansi, MST has exonerated itself from among the parties that allegedly breached a consent judgment between the management of Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra State, and one of the university’s financiers, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka.

Specifically, MST denied ever directing one Rev. Fr. Edwin Obiorah, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN whom they described as a self-acclaimed lawyer of the Tansian University, to shun and thwart the validity of the said consent judgment between the University and Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, who donated his property, Ranent Industries, located at Oba in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra state, to serve a take-off site for the university at its inception.

Founder of Tansian University, the late Monsignor John Bosco Akam had in 2008,  shortly after the inception of the university engaged Ezeonwuka, a financier and a property donor in a daggers-drawn over the ownership of the takeoff campus at Oba, which Ezeonwuka vehemently made clear that the land and the structures were his personal property.

The height of the crisis saw the duo throwing brickbats at each other, engaging in various forms of mudslinging to the extent that the National Universities Commission, NUC threatened to close down the university in 2010 if the ownership crisis persisted.

However, to save the university’s imminent closure, the two warring parties, Akam and Ezeonwuka met in a round table conference and resolved the protracted disagreement with a resolution to pay Ezeonwuka annual honorarium of N10 million in the form of yearly rent over the take-off campus of the university, which belonged to Renant Industries Limited then, before its conversion as the university’s takeoff site.

To guarantee a lasting peace, both parties also went to court and obtained a consent judgment ratifying the payment of N10 million as annual honorariums to Ezeonwuka by the university management.

To add flesh to the consent judgment, both parties and their witnesses signed, stamped, sealed, and lodged the judgment at Anambra State High Court.

But while washing his hands of the breach of the consent judgment allegedly perpetrated by Rev. Fr. Edwin Obiorah SAN, shortly after the demise of Monsignor Akam, the founder, Rev. Bro. Paulinus Okoli, a Director in the MST wondered how Rev. Fr. Obiorah who never knew the beginning and end of Tansian University crises, is now spearheading the breach of the consent judgment.

In a press statement issued to newsmen, Okoli described the incidents that ensued since the demise of the Msgr. John Bosco Akam is highly regrettable and disheartened, adding that the congregation is viewing Rev. Fr. Obiorah SAN’s actions as profoundly beneath the dignity of priestly vocation which also constituted an affront to legal ethics and practice.

According to Okoli, ” It is an egregious display of arrogance and disrespect toward our revered founder, Very Rev. Msgr Prof. JB Akam of blessed memories”.

“Therefore, witnessing such disrespect towards Consent Judgment binding on Tansian University and Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, and contesting the Last Will of our founder, is a source of immense shame and an insult”

“We wholeheartedly denounce Rev. Fr. Obiorah SAN’s reprehensible conduct and insist he approves Ezeonwuka’s arrears of honorarium which has over the years risen to about N60  million,  tenders public apology to Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka and, by extension, the mother church”.

“While we abhor Rev. Fr. Obiorah’s arrogance, we also express our disappointment in the estranged members of MST who acquiesced to the commands of someone who places money above and beyond dignity and respect”.

“It is totally unbelievable, reprehensible and unthinkable and it’s important that we make the facts clear. We remain steadfast in our commitment to safeguarding the honor, heritage, and dignity of the late Akam, our founder in every aspect. All of these evasions are contrary to Catholic doctrine and are unacceptable by us.”

“His Eminence, Cardinal Okpalaeze, the Catholic Bishop of Ekwulobia Diocese should deal with voracious priests properly. The decision to withhold Chief Ezeonwuka’s payment and subject our founder’s Last Will to litigation is irrelevant. As a Cardinal and Bishop of Ekwulobia Catholic Diocese, the buck stops on his table. Even if others made the decisions, he still has the authority to deal with Tansian University issues”.

“It is Obiorah’s most grievous to bring down Tansian University and other Msgr Akam’s investments and His Eminence should not be perceived to swing the pendulum in favor of such an injustice and mischief. What the future holds…no one knows”.

“Missionary Sons of Tansi, founded by the late Very Rev. Msgr Prof. John Bosco Akam of blessed memories and canonically erected as a religious and pious congregation in the Catholic Diocese of Ijebu-Ode with all the rites of the Mother Church.

“Missionary Servants of the Church, MSC which later changed its name to Missionary Sons of Tansi MST remains the proprietor of Tansian University, Umunya Anambra state as captured and enshrined by the NUC, is the Proprietor of Tansian University. Any other registration outside the transition from MSC to MST is void and of no consequence and should be disregarded”.

“MST is not factionalised, it remains one body with a single novitiate based in Ijebu-Ode. It upholds the tenets of the mother church with obligatory allegiance to the host Diocese of Ijebu-Ode. We cannot go against the Last Will of the Founder or go against his beliefs”.

“We therefore appeal to everyone to put the interest of the Congregation and that of the mother church, above the selfish needs of any individual and profit from baseless endeavor”, said Re. Bro. Okoli.