Missionary Sons of Tansi (MST) the proprietor of Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra State, on Saturday said it never directed the self-acclaimed lawyer of the university, Rev. Fr. Barr. Edwin Obiora to shun and thwart the validity of the consent judgment between University and Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, whose property, Ranent Industries, accommodated the university at its inception.
The private university which was named after Blessed Iwene Tansi, has its take off campus at Oba in Idemili South Local Government Area. But shortly after inception of the university, precisely in 2008, the founder Msgr. Akam and Ezeonwuka were at 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 NUC considered closing it down in 2010 if the ownership crisis persisted.
However to save the university, the two warring parties met in a round table conference to resolve the protracted disagreement with a resolution to pay Ezeonwuka annual rents but in form of yearly honorarium over the take-off campus of the university, which belongs to Renant Industries Ltd.
To guarantee a lasting peace, both parties reached a consent judgment, signed by themselves and their witnesses, stamped, sealed and lodges at the Anambra State High court.
Fallaciously and frivolously in his extreme tendentiousness, Fr. Obiora who never knew the beginning and end of Tansian University crises, spearheaded a shock-and-awe action and inaction to breach the Consent Judgment with unfounded yet misguided reason and gluttonousness.
In a statement, one of the Directors of MST described the incidents that ensured since the demise of the Msgr. John Bosco Akam regrettable and disheartened.
The congregation said that “Rev. Fr. Obiorah SAN’s actions were profoundly beneath the dignity of priestly vocation and constitutes an affront to legal ethics and practice. 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 tenders public apology to Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka and, by extension, the mother church.
“While we censure 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 our founder in every aspect. All of these evasions are contrary to Catholic teaching and is unacceptable by us.”
“His Eminence should deal with voracious priests properly. How much he is involved in the decisions to withhold Chief Ezeonwuka’s payment and subject our founder Last Will to litigation, is irrelevant. He is the Cardinal Bishop of Ekwulobia Catholic Diocese and the buck stops with him. Even if others made the decisions, he still has the authority to deal with Tansian University issues.
“It is Obiorah’s most grievous fault that wants to bring down Tansian University and other Msgr Akam’s investment and His Eminence should not be perceived to swing the pendulum in favor of injustice and mischief. What the future holds…no one knows
“Missionary Sons of Tansi, founded by Very Rev. Msgr Prof. John Bosco Akam of blessed memories and canonically erected as 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 as captured and enshrined by the National Universities Commission (NUC), is the Proprietor of Tansian University. Any other registration outside the transition from MSC to MST is void and of no-consequences, should be disregarded.
“MST is not factionalized, it remain one body with a single novitiate based in Ijebu-Ode; it upholds the tenets of 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.
