“The goat that feeds in another man’s farm is driven not by hunger alone, but by greed,” says an African proverb. It speaks to those who seek to claim what is not theirs, believing that persistence may eventually overpower the truth.
There is another saying that fits this moment: when the owner of a yam barn publicly identifies the rightful heir before his departure, anyone who later fights for the keys naturally invites questions about motive.
Whatever may have inspired the recent attempt to hijack Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra State, and covert it into a private commercial enterprise—whether jealousy, enmity, rivalry, or conflicting interpretations—the documentary record left behind by the founder, Very Rev. Msgr. Prof. Johnbosco Akam, remains remarkably clear, consistent, and compelling
Long before his death in February 2021, Msgr. Prof. Akam anticipated that questions about the university’s ownership might one day arise. Rather than leave the matter to speculation, he documented his position in two separate and significant records: his 2017 autobiography and his Last Will and Testament.
In 2017, to mark his 70th birthday, Msgr. Akam published his autobiography, A Fulfilled Life of Service (ISBN: 978-978-960-847-9). In it, he made an unequivocal declaration: “Tansian University does not belong to me. It belongs to a group of religious men, called Missionary Servants of the Church.” He did not stop at a personal assertion. He cited the Provisional and Operational Licenses issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Universities Commission (NUC) in May 2007 and Tansian University Law, 2007 Edition, which identifies the Missionary Servants of the Church (MSC) as the proprietor, and before his death, reaffirmed the same position in his Last Will and Testament. Taken together, these documents present a consistent and compelling record of the founder’s intention, leaving the ownership question to be determined not by competing claims or sentiments, but by the evidence he consciously preserved. It represents his legal and moral ownership of Tansian University.
Recalling the controversy that arose when the Archbishop of Onitsha mounted pressure for him to hand over the institution to the Onitsha Archdiocese, Msgr. Akam wrote that he stood his ground because he did not consider himself the owner of the university.
He recalled: “Archbishop was saying that the place should be closed, why? Because he had told me to hand over the Tansian University to him. And my answer was very simple: Tansian University does not belong to me. It belongs to a group of religious men, called Missionary Servants of the Church.”
According to him: “I quoted also the Provisional License issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Universities Commission (NUC) in May 2007, the Operational License and Tansian University Law, 2007 Edition on page 5, Article 3—the Proprietor of Tansian University is Missionary Servants of the Church.”
He further recounted that after hearing the legal provision, Cardinal Francis Arinze immediately responded with what Msgr. Akam considered the logical conclusion.
“Whoever wants the University should also want the Proprietor. You can’t exclude the Proprietor and have only the University.”
For Msgr. Akam, the legal framework establishing the university left no room for ambiguity. His message was unmistakable. The university and its legally recognised proprietor were inseparable. One could not legitimately seek control of the institution while disregarding the body established as its proprietor.
Msgr. Akam also explained that the Missionary Servants of the Church was never an afterthought or a convenient label created for the university. Rather, it was the religious institute specifically established and legally recognised to serve as the institution’s proprietor.
He recalled that even the name of the congregation attracted objections. Some attempted to interpret the initials “MSC” differently.
He wrote: “It is Missionary Servants of the Church; it is not Master of Science.”
He added that after every objection had been addressed, the congregation retained its identity.
“That was the name incorporated at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja. That was the name we had used in most of our writings, Letterhead and so on.”
This historical account demonstrates that the Missionary Servants of the Church was not simply a descriptive title. According to Msgr. Akam, it was the legally incorporated religious body that appeared in official records and institutional documents connected with the university.
Perhaps the strongest evidence of how deeply he held this conviction came not only in his autobiography but also in the final legal document he executed before his death.
When Very Rev. Msgr. Prof. Johnbosco Akam died in February 2021, he left behind his Last Will and Testament. Significantly, the position he had publicly expressed four years earlier remained unchanged.
In the Will, he again referred to the same religious body he had consistently identified during his lifetime as the university’s proprietor—the Missionary Servants of the Church (MSC), later renamed the Missionary Sons of Blessed Iwene Tansi (MST), also known as the Tansian Missionaries—as the beneficiaries connected with Tansian University
That raises an important question. If Msgr. Akam consistently maintained that he was not the owner of Tansian University, why did he make reference to the university in his Last Will?
His inclusion of the university in the Will has been interpreted differently by the “hawks” but his position was not an attempt to transfer personal ownership, but as a final legal affirmation of the ownership structure he had consistently defended throughout his life. In both his autobiography and his Will, he identified the Missionary Servants of the Church—Missionary Sons of Blessed Iwene Tansi (MST)/Tansian Missionaries—as the body connected with the university’s ownership.
Seen from that perspective, the Will did not introduce a new ownership arrangement. Rather, it reaffirmed the same position he had publicly articulated years earlier.
The consistency is striking.
These documents span the final years of his life, yet they tell the same story.
Therefore, if the founder himself repeatedly declared that the university did not belong to him; if he cited the Provional and Operational Licenses issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Tansian University Law, 2007, naming the Missionary Servants of the Church as proprietor; if he documented the incorporation of that religious institute; and if, before his death in February 2021, he again referenced the same body in his Last Will and Testament, then his recorded intentions are unmistakably consistent.
In legal language, res ipsa loquitur—the thing speaks for itself.
By CHIDIPETERS OKORIE, the Public Relations Officer of Tansian University, Umunya, Anambra State and Personal Assistant to the founder.
