Orlu Town Union led by Hon Eddie Olumba as President, has outrightly rejected the plot by the Imo State government to relocate the Orlu campus of Imo State Polytechnic to Omuma and at the same time warned all religious organizations by whatever name, to stay away from the community’s land on which the school is situated.
The Union, in a letter signed by Barrister Ephram Okafor and addressed to the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, protested vehemently about the plan to relocate the Orlu campus of Imo Polytechnic to elsewhere and thereafter, use land which the community donated for the establishment of a tertiary institution for another purpose adding that, if for any reason, the government no longer wants to use the land for the purpose, it was donated, it should be returned to the original owners.
The letter reads in part, “Your Excellency Sir, over the years, it will also interest you to note that our client gave their land to the government in that government had promised to build institutions which our client considered to be able to drive developmental goals and to sustain mutual benefits.
“Such land given to the state government is the present site which inhabits the Imo State Polytechnic, Orlu Annex. But this land was originally released to the government during the colonial era to build a teacher’s Training Institute called Bishop Shanahan training college (BSTC). There after, as there was cessation of offensives after the civil war, the government seized the land and pronounced it Alvan Ikokwu College Of Education to serve as part of its formative campuses.
“In time, the Alvan Ikeokwu College of Education became fully functional in Owerri neccesitating the closing of her formative campus in orlu and establishing of TESAC (Technical School and Acquisition Center) in the same location.
“When there was need to situate a polytechnic in Orlu, the same site which housed Tesac was named a campus of Imo State Polytechnic with its main Campus settling at Omuma in Oru West local government area.
“While our client live in expectancy of savoring the prospects of being hosts to a tertiary institution, like a thunder bolt from the blues, our client became jolted with the news of the plans by the state government to relocate the Imo Polytechnic to Omuma and cede the Site to Catholic Church for use as pastoral center.
“While our client may not be averse to government decisions, they are opposed to this extant case because it does not serve the public interest especially that of our client, the aborigins who are the host community, reasons abound.
“If you may recall your Excellency, our client gave their land primarily because of the mutual developmental benefits.
“That was why there was no atom of restiveness witnessed when the government established Alvan Ikeokwu college of education and later replaced it with Tesac and thereafter named it a campus of Imo Polytechnic. Nobody had cast aspersions over the import of its statuses at any point in time because it was serving the public interest for which the land was given.
“Today, our client are vehemently opposed to any plans to hand the present location of Imo Polytechnic to the Catholic Church under any guise because it will not in any way serve our interest.
“If the government intends to move the campus of Imo Polytechnic in Orlu to Oru without recourse to establishing an institution that can be of greater good to our client, our passionate appeal to your Excellency is that the government should therefore return our client’s land back to their community.
“Our client are opposed to government’s moves to hand the land to the Catholic church because the previous one given to them to serve as Bishop’s House has been turned to a Pastoral center and hotel in total breach of the purpose for which our client released the land to the Church.
“Your Excellency sir ,our client are certain that if the present land is handed to the church, their community will not have anything to gain rather the Catholic Church will turn it into another ground for her activities that will have no direct or indirect benefits to the people.
We pray that our client’s appeal is given the priority attention it deserves.
Please accept the assurances of our most esteemed regards”.
