An aide to a former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has said the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for the Eastern Palm University, Ogboko, cannot be revoked nor can the state government take over the institution.
Sam Onwuemeodo, in a statement, in Owerri, on Thursday, accused the state governor, Hope Uzodinma, of using the state House of Assembly to play petty politics.
In the statement, Okorocha flayed the state lawmakers for repealing the law establishing the university.
He said, “The Imo State Government, with Chief Hope Uzodimma, as governor, had taken three wrong steps with regard to the Eastern Palm University in the past 72 hours.
“The government had announced that it had taken over the ownership of the university. The government had also got the House of Assembly to purportedly repeal the law establishing the university. The government has also announced that it has re-named or changed the name of the university to K.O. Mbadiwe University.
“Our reactions are the purported repeal of the law establishing the Eastern Palm University has authenticated our claim that it was a creation of the law. The law establishing the University prescribed the PPP arrangement.
“Since that was the setting, the Assembly therefore, defaulted or had acted in contravention of the law by not getting the Consent or agreement of the two parties involved, on the reported repeal. In other words, the repeal only existed in the imaginations of those behind it.”
A coalition of youth organisations in the South-East had said it was organising a one million-man march across major cities within the zone to demand the prosecution of Okorocha for allegedly converting the university to his personal property.
The coalition urged Uzodimma to expedite action on the return of the university to the Imo people “who are the real owners.”
