But the visit of Mrs Ololo from the look of things was different; it touched his heart and those of government officials and visitors present. The reason was that the woman, a widow and an educationist, was earnestly seeking for the return of her ceased school. The nonagenarian and her lawyer, Mr. Malcolm Omirhobo, and a pocket of protesters stormed the governor’s office to register their protest over the non release of Metropolitan College, Isolo, Lagos, to her as directed in 2001 by the former governor of the state Bola Tinubu. The protest which was carried out in the rain started from the state Ministry of Education and ended at the governor’s office with the protesters carrying placards with different inscriptions denouncing the state government for not returning the college to the widow 39 years after it was seized by the then military government of the state. The protesters, numbering over 50, including the daughter of the woman, Mrs. Chidinma Nwandu, chanted anti-government songs, displaying the placards for government officials, workers and visitors to see and read. Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: “Give back Metropolitan and Isolo Secondary School back to Mama Ololo,” “Justice for Mama Ololo,” “Stop double standard,” “Lagos State Government, obey the rule of law and release the school to Mama,” “Your Excellency, please be responsive” and “Stop discrimination against females.” Our correspondent gathered that the visit was the second by the nonagenarian to Alausa over her demand for the state government to return the college back to her family in line with Education (private secondary institutions) Special Provisions Law (repeal) 2001. The first was in the twilight of the former Governor Babatunde Fashola administration during which Madam Ololo packed her belongings and laid siege to the Alausa Government House. In a letter dated April, 2015, and addressed to Fashola, lawyer to the widow, Mr. Malcolm Omirhobo, drew the attention of the governor to the fact that 48 private secondary schools in the state were returned to their owners after Tinubu administration repeal the law but Metropolitan College was not returned to her prompting his client to seek redress in court. He revealed that the current status of the case was that the parties were disposed to settling the matter amicably thus the court referred the case file to the Lagos State Multi door Court to explore alternatives to dispute resolution while the matter had been narrowed to five issues. Among the issues were that Metropolitan College comprising Isolo Secondary School belonged to Madam Ololo; that the college be released to his client, that the state Ministry of Education insists on retaining part of the property, that his client would comply with the terms and conditions of the return of private secondary schools and that the government from time to time would monitor compliance by his client. In the same letter to former Governor Fashola, the lawyer said: “Your Excellency, our client is financially and materially capable to run her school in whole and not in part and consequently, we would be grateful if you help put to an end our client’s 39 years of excruciating agony and nightmare before your tenure expires.” Unfortunately, the Fashola administration failed to meet the nonagenarian’s request and now, Governor Ambode has inherited the matter. Felling frustrated, the 91-year-old widow, her lawyer and supporters stormed Alausa in the heavy rain to protest and demand for the return of the college displaying various placards. The protest march which held for about 30 minutes saw the party holding workers and visitors literarily ‘hostage’ as they chanted anti government songs until the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mrs Olabisi Ariyo, led other officials to address them. The peaceful protest thrice degenerated into hot exchanges between the woman’s lawyer and the permanent secretary. Omirhobo faulted the position of the ministry when Mrs. Ariyo claimed that she was new in the ministry. But the lawyer insisted that she ought to have consulted the case file before making her statement. Omirhobo accused the permanent secretary of misinforming the public on the issues in contention and asked her if the state government had not admitted new students for the 2015/2016 academic session in violation of the agreement reached that Madam Ololo would admit new students while the ones at the school at the moment be retained until they graduate. Our correspondent gathered that the permanent secretary could not provide answers to Omirhobo question as to whether government had admitted JS1 and SS1 students into the college. She denied insinuations by the lawyer that the state government was neither deliberately delaying the return of the school nor applying double standard or tribal sentiments and used she opportunity to inform the nonagenarian and her lawyer that the state Ministry of Justice had scheduled a meeting to discuss the matter. The protesters then moved to the Lagos House and the Governor’s Office; after about 35 minutes of chanting anti-government songs and displaying of placards for broadcast journalists and photographers to catch, some aide of Governor Ambode led by the Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, came out to inform Madam Ololo and her lawyer that the governor had asked the permanent secretary to listen to their grievance. Another round of argument ensued when Mrs. Ariyo arrived with Mr. Omirhobo. But Mr. Aruna cleared the tension and assured the nonagenarian that Governor Ambode would look into her plight. Our correspondent gathered that the parley conveyed by the state Ministry of Justice which also involved officials of the Ministry of Education led by Mrs. Ariyo the widow, and her lawyer ended in a deadlock. This prompted Mr. Omirhobo to fire another letter to Governor Ambode stressing that “the meeting broke down as a result of the inability of government representatives to abreast themselves with salient facts of the matter and the relevant laws.” The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Jide Lawal, in a statement after the meeting did not mention that there was deadlock or disagreement at the meeting which was said to have been presided over by Mrs. Ariyo. Lawal quoted Mrs. Ariyo as saying that the state government in an effort to carry out due diligence, requested the nonagenarian to substantiate her claims to the ownership of the schools by providing a letter of administration or the copy of the will of the former owner of the school in order to fast track the process of returning the schools. Ariyo noted that government’s position was informed by the need to ascertain the rightful status of Mrs. Ololo in the family, in view of the internal wrangling in the Ololo family, adding that the process of returning the school could only be concluded after the identification of the rightful owner of the college. But Omirhobo, in a letter to the governor lambasted the government delegates saying: “We were shocked to the marrow at the said meeting when your said officials attended the meeting without their case files on the subject matter. Incredibly, they were asking us ‘who is Michael Ololo?’ Who is the owner of the property so as to be sure of whom they were dealing with? They were asking us for the will of late Chief Michael Ololo or his letters of administration on the school.” He stated that the property belonged to Akaix West Africa Ltd, a company incorporated by his client and her late husband thus the firm could not die because it had perpetual succession and the law that guided company property was different from the one that guided individual property. His words: “Assuming without conceding that the property belong to my client and the late husband, he couldn’t have willed what he did not have, knowing that the property has been acquired from him by the government. And assuming without conceding that the property belongs to my client and her late husband, his estate is not qualified to apply for letters of administration of the property because the property, for the past 39 years to date is in control of the state government.” Mr. Omirhobo said his client was waiting for the governor’s response to her letter dated September 23 and that he would appreciate if Governor Ambode could meet with the widow or direct the Ministry of Education to do the needful, stressing that “the ball is in the court of the governor and we expect his letter of invitation to discuss and resolve the case. Age is no longer on my client side.”
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