By Innocent Anaba

PIQUED by the continued retention of her schools by the Lagos State Government, Madam Roseline Ololo has decided to fight the state government for its refusal to return her schools 39 years after.

The battle to ensure the return of her schools commenced yesterday, picketing the office of the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, with other civil society groups. And they vowed not to retreat until the governor meets their demands.

Ololo and her late husband, Chief Michael Ololo, had through their company, Akaix West Africa Limited, established Metropolitan College in 1955 with the first batch of 19 students in Surulere area of Lagos.

After 10 years of existence, the plans to expand the school arose. And rather than site it within the neighborhood where the school started, they decided to move away from the thickly populated residential area of Surulere.

The owners acquired the present site at Ire-Akari, Isolo in 1966 and eventually moved there in 1974.

Two years after, in 1976, through the Education (Private Secondary Institutions Special Provisions) Law, the Military Government of Lagos State took over 48 Private Secondary Schools from their owners, including Metropolitan College. In the process, Isolo Secondary School was carved out of Metropolitan College on the same expanse of land hosting the college.

The Nonagenarian during the protest

Private participation

Twenty-five years after, former governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu repealed the law in a bid to encourage private participation in the education sector of the state.

Tinubu returned the said 48 private schools seized by the military administration to their owners. But Ololo was surprised that her Metropolitan College was curiously not returned, a development that brought about a law suit filed by  Akaix West Africa.

Akaix West Africa had contended that the retention of part of the school was against government’s restructuring of the educational system of divesting and allowing the private sector to invest in the educational system so as to provide the conditions in which students can learn to the highest standard and prepare themselves to meet their future needs.

Before yesterday’s protest, the 91-year-old woman had earlier concluded plans to challenge the state government during the administration of ex-governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola. But she was pacified by the governor to sheath her sword, promising that the issue would be resolved immediately.

In a bid to resolve the protracted issue, the state government referred the case to the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse, LMDC, for arbitration. But at the arbitral sitting, another trouble emanated. And the Lagos State Ministry of Education insisted in retaining the Isolo Secondary School.
Frustrated by the demands of the  State Ministry of Education, her counsel, Mr. Malcolm Omirhobo wrote a letter to Fashola urging him to put on his wig and gown as a seasoned and erudite Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN to call for the file, study it and advise the Lagos State Ministry of Education on the need to return the whole school and not part to the owners.

The lawyer specially urged the governor to frog leap the exercise of the return of the school by ensuring that the case was presented and deliberated at the next Lagos State Executive Council Meeting so that the matter could be put to an end on or before May 29, 2015. Omirhobo and his client were however shock to discover that the former governor until his final day in office, failed to ensure the return of the schools to its original owner.

The lawyer explained that since the ex-governor has failed to speedily act on the letter, his client (Mama Ololo) decided to take her destiny in her own hands by lawfully occupying the governor’s office in protest against the undue delay in the return of her school.

To ensure that her actions falls within the legal framework, the nonagenarian notified the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni of her intention to picket the office of the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode alongside members of the civil society movement in the state.
Ololo stated this in two separate letters to the governor and the Commissioner of police through her lawyer.

According to the letters, copies of which were made available to reporters, Omirhobo said he had no choice than to embark on another peaceful protest starting from September 21, 2015 owing to the failure of the state government to honour its agreement to return the schools.

World press conference

In the letter to Ambode, Omirhobo had stated that: “As a result of the foregoing, our client is embarking on a massive rally/protest at the Lagos State Government House and environs on Monday, the 21st day of September, 2015.

“Our client shall also sieze the opportunity to address a world press conference on her 39 years of agony as a result of the Lagos State Government refusal to return her schools to her contrary to the provisions of the law of the land.”

“My client desperately wants her school to be given to her in her lifetime because the school is the family legacy. Mama and her late husband worked hard to build the school and they cannot sit back and watch when the other schools have since been returned to their owners.

“We don’t have any problem in terms of running the school effectively and efficiently. We are capable and we have agreed that we should be sanctioned if we don’t run the school properly. So, there is really no reason for the delay in returning everything to us,” the lawyer said.