By Zika Bobby
The administrator of a private school (name withheld) in Arepo, Ogun State, Mrs Abimbola Olawunmi, has denied claims that the alleged incisions found on the bodies of two pupils were inflicted by the staff of the school.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, Mrs Olawunmi, who was in the company of some staff and parents, said she was compelled to speak out to the public because of the campaign of calumny against the school by the parents of the alleged victims.
According to her, the matter, which is currently a subject of litigation in court, was blown out of proportion by some unsubstantiated reports in a section of the media and the extrajudicial measures by the parents.
Going down memory lane, Mrs. Olawunmi, who recalled that the parents of the affected pupils lodged complaints with the school several weeks after the discovery of the alleged incisions on their children’s bodies, said she has since provided ample evidence exonerating the school from any guilt.
She said: “The parents of the two pupils (girl 2+ and boy 6 years) came on March 11 to lodge complaints that they saw strange marks on their children. They showed me, and the girl said ‘aunty’ rubbed pepper on her back. Let me emphasise that we don’t address anyone as ‘aunty’ in the school everyone is known by their names. That’s the culture here.”
The school proprietress who maintained that her school was not liable for the offence, however, stressed that she was determined to get to the root of the matter to disprove the falsehoods being peddled around by those persons with ill motives.
This is just as she expressed anger over what she described as the commando-style of some officials of the Ministry of Education, who allegedly stormed the school during school hours to close down the school despite being aware of a pending court case.
Also speaking at the event, Mrs. Temiloluwa Alatise, one of the parents who admitted that she had been the one taking Al-Amin Ishola, one of the affected kids home with the consent of his mother, exonerated the school of any wrongdoing, insisting that Al-Amin’s mom was most times busy at her saloon, and as such, may not notice the problem with her child.
This is just as another parent, Mr. Michael Bolarinwa, said there was no prima facie evidence that the school was guilty of negligence or culpable in any way because no other child experienced similar actions to warrant the blanket claims by the parents of the victims to tar the school with bad brush.
Dotun Ajulo, legal adviser to the school who confirmed that the matter was already in court, however, emphasised that it was in the interest of everybody to wait for the case to run its full course in the court so that all parties would get justice.