Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide SanwaOlu, to take immediate and comprehensive measures to stop the state private schools from becoming killing fields and places of sexual molestation of children by staff of the schools.
The rights group also urged the state government to investigate allegations of negligence, leading to the death of a 12-year-old female student of Chrisland International School Lagos.
HURIWA stated that it was unfortunate that secondary schools in Lagos have been allowed to be infiltrated by rapists, cultists and murderers and regretted that the wellbeing of school children has been undermined in the schools without constructive interventions by the Lagos State Government to stamp out the menaces.
HURIWA expressed consternation that cases of mysterious deaths of students in the private schools of Lagos and cases of sexual scandals, including massive allegations of sexual molestation of school pupils, wanton raping of children by the staff of these schools in both primary and secondary schools in the private and public schools of Lagos have become both a worrisome development as well as a historic burdensome phenomena that ought to be confronted, using variety of law based actions by the Lagos State Government to confront the crimes viciously and vehemently.
The rights group condemned the lacklustre and politically tainted approaches used so far by the current Lagos State administration to handle such cases, including that of the 12-year-old male student of Dowen College Lagos, Sylvester Junior, tortured to death in December 2021 by his colleagues, for refusing to join a student cult. HURIWA accused the Lagos State governor of pandering to the whims and caprices of the rich elites who own the private schools in Lagos, who are believed to be using their connection to the seat of power in Lagos to perpetually delay and deny social justice to the victims of rape and torture in the schools.
HURIWA, in a statement to the media by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, recalled that Mr. Michael Adeniran, the father of a 12-year-old Chrisland International School student, Opebi branch, had taken to social media to cry out over the death of his daughter, Whitney Adeniran, who allegedly died during the school’s inter-house sports activities.
(Continued on www.sunnewsonline.com)
According to posts making the rounds on social media on Saturday night, Adeniran said his daughter died last Thursday at the Agege Stadium, where the school used for its sporting activities.
HURIWA quoted Adeniran as stating thus: “To the biggest shock of my life, by 1pm in the afternoon, I got a call from my wife that she was informed that our daughter slumped at the inter-house sports and was rushed to the clinic. My wife was at the venue even before the event started. She was never informed or called until they had conveyed our child out of the venue before they informed her. On the arrival of my wife at the health centre, my daughter was lying dead with her lips and tongue black.
“I gave Chrisland school a healthy, vibrant young girl. What Chrisland returned to me is a dead child. My entire family is in deep sorrow, but the school authority claimed they know nothing about my daughter’s death and all they know is that my daughter slumped and died. My question is what happened to my daughter at Agege Stadium? As a father, I demand answers from Chrisland International High School. I am in deep pain and sorrow right now. If you are a father, you will understand my pain. My daughter is highly loved by us. We cherished her and we can never allow an institution to gloss over the death of our daughter.”
HURIWA also lamented that Mr. Fredrick Olurunfemi, father of a seven-year-old pupil of Luyol Schools, who accused the school bus driver of molesting his daughter, has been confirmed dead.
The pupil, who will turn eight in May, had told her mother that the driver, having conveyed other students to their destinations on February 1, 2023, drove her to his house and had carnal knowledge of her. Hearing this, Olurunfemi proceeded to the school with his daughter to speak to the driver, leading to an altercation between them. Consequently, the school bus driver pushed Mr Femi, who fell down and was rushed to a nearby hospital, Osuntuyi Medical Centre, where he was confirmed dead.
The rights group said the wife of the deceased Mrs. Mabel Olurunfemi, said: “Last Wednesday, my daughter came back from school and told me that after her school bus driver had dropped everyone at their houses, he took her to his house, told her to lift her school uniform and sit on his lap to kiss him, and was calling her his wife.”
HURIWA is, therefore, asking the Lagos State Government and the State House of Assembly to pass legislative frameworks to protect school kids from rapists and cultists who have infiltrated the institutions, so the Lagos State private schools do not degenerate to a killing field and places of raping of young children who are enrolled by their parents for education, but who are now endangered species in the hands of rapists. HURIWA called for the prosecution of the driver and alleged rapist for murder and rape. The group, also, called for protest by members of the organised civil rights bodies in Lagos.