Follow Us on Google
…Principal under pressure to recall expelled culprit
From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
The principal of Government Secondary School, Afikpo, Ebonyi State, Mr. Ogbonnia Nwachi, is said to be facing intimidation, possible litigation and threats of losing his job. He is allegedly being threatened by some powerful individuals and groups for expelling an SS2 student, Chidiebere, who allegedly forced a JSS1 student, Onwe, to drink garri laced with a harmful substance in school.
On Wednesday, June 18, 2022, it was alleged that when the junior student was engaged in manual labour outside the hostel, Chidiebere, who was also the hostel captain, went to Onwe and asked him if he would drink garri but he refused. However, as a result of alleged intimidation and persuasion from the senior student, Onwe yielded to the instruction and consumed the food, which was soaked in bleach.
It was learnt that after about 30 minutes, Onwe’s stomach began to rumble and he felt excruciating pain. So, he quickly went to Chidiebere and complained about his discomfort.
Having sensed the danger associated with the act, Chidiebere quickly provided Onwe with palm oil as an antidote to the poisoned food and warned him not to tell anyone what happened.
Unfortunately, the problem persisted till Thursday night when Onwe became very weak and could not breathe well. Then Chidiebere, in his attempt to keep the issue secret, made an arrangement to smuggle Onwe out of the school premises and send him home.
But in the early morning while Chidiebere, with the help of two other persons, were carrying the boy out of the school, some teachers took notice of what was going on and intercepted them. In spite of the teachers’ efforts, Chidiebere and his friends maintained that nothing was wrong with Onwe even when it was glaring that he could not stand firmly on his feet.
But while the teachers were interrogating Chidiebere, another student, who had knowledge of what transpired, provided the teachers with the information and they rushed the dying boy to the hospital.
Based on this, the school management headed by the principal, Mr. Ogbonnia Nwachi, expelled Chidiebere from the school as a deterrent to other children, who indulge in bullying their juniors.
A staff of the school, who pleaded anonymity, told Daily Sun that since the principal took the said action, he has not known peace as he had before now received a counter-order from the office of the Secondary Education Board (SEB), Ebonyi State, through the chairman, David Egbu, a lawyer, directing that the expelled student should be called back without hesitation.
The case of another female lawyer and family friend of the accused student (names withheld) was not different as the woman had allegedly threatened to drag both the principal and the school management to court for detaining Chidiebere, being a minor, coupled with the legal action allegedly instituted by members of Federated International Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ebonyi State chapter, led by their chairperson, Mrs. Esther Ajaero-Anugor, claiming that the principal should not only call back the accused student but also apologise for detaining the boy.
The victim’s father and public relations officer, Ebonyi State ministry of works and transportation, Mr. Emmanuel Onwe, when contacted on phone, disclosed that the parents of the accused student had neither visited Ebonyi State concerning the matter nor shown remorse. Rather, they were busy running from pillar to post to see how the expulsion could be reversed.
He said: “On several occasions that my presence was needed at Afikpo, I did make myself available but the parents of the accused person, on their part, they never came, whereas it is a problem for which I have spent so much money at the hospital.
“The people are only worried about the action taken against their child, through their family lawyer, who is insisting that the school principal must reverse the expulsion. As a result of this, they wrote a letter to the principal, directing him to tender an apology letter and also return the accused student to the school over the claim that the boy, being a minor, was not supposed to have been detained at the police station.
“The people, through the boy’s guardian, are also claiming that the boy should not have been detained on the account that he is a minor at the age of 17 years but my question is: between the accused person and my son who is 12 years, who is a minor? And being a minor, has it become a right to take another person’s life?
“Were they expecting that the boy would have been in the comfort of his home or being in the classroom studying and at the same provide the police with the account of what he did? Egbu, the chairman of SEB, had equally called me and said that, since my son did not die, I should tell the principal to reverse the expulsion action.
“That is why I asked him if he was waiting for my son to die before an action would be taken against the accused the person, and the man began to threaten that he would send the principal out of the school, if he failed to call back the boy.”
He further alleged that the people went to Ebonyi State ministry of education and requested that the principal should be compelled to reverse the action without considering the fact that the accused person equally threatened to kill the victim, if he revealed what happened between them.
“What I am facing is the threats of the lawyer and up till now the parents of the boy are not remorseful over the problem. Perhaps, their attitude was premised on my speech, where I told them that I do not want to make a case with the matter, that is why they are taking my leniency for granted,” he said.
According to him, they had equally engaged members of FIDA who are threatening to sue the school management for detaining the boy, stating that the lawyers are acting based on the wrong information given to them.
He also said that the victim has been complaining of stomach aches, from time to time, after the problem while the issue of blood in the boy’s urine seems to have been stabilized.
“My son no longer sees blood in his urine as before and the doctor assured that the problem would surely clear with time,” he explained.
Egbu, in his reaction, denied threatening either the principal or the victim’s father. He added that he had advised the man to drop the matter, especially as it had been examined thoroughly and found that the boy was not suffering from any health hazard as a result of the problem.
According to him, the parties were advised that, since the two boys were minors, the parent of the victim, who said that he had spent some money in the hospital, should be reimbursed and upon enquiry, the father of the accused student disclosed that he had already paid some money in the hospital.
“As I am speaking now, I don’t know them. I was only talking to them on phone and I persuaded him to make an additional payment to the other person to assuage his feelings and the accused student’s father informed me that he did it and I said that he should drop the matter, since there are no elderly ones involved. Two of them are minors and I equally told the principal so.
“Butthe principal insisted that, with the directive of the Old Boys of the school, it won’t be possible, and I tried to persuade them to let go since the people involved were children, he refused. And I said, well, when you finish your own action, the board may take its own action too, since he could not yield to the instruction of the board.
“So, when I made the matter known to my board members and the information got to him that the board was not happy with him, that the members were about to do something, he rushed to my office and started begging. I said that I did advise him earlier to forget the matter but he refused. Thus, if the father of the senior boy who had been expelled allows it that way, then there is no problem.
“Long after, he wrote a letter and complained that FIDA has written, threatening to take him to court, unless he brings the boy back to the school. Based on this, we wrote and told him to do either of the two: that is, either to bring the boy back or answer them in the court. After all, court is not a slaughter house. One may get there and have a good case and if he doesn’t have and there is punishment, he should take it; and that’s just all about it.”
Egbu denied holding any meeting with the ministry of education, mandating the principal to recall the boy or threatening to post him out of the school, if he fails to comply with the advice.
“I haven’t at any time called to threaten him to accept my directives or be posted out of the place. I only wrote a letter telling him to bring back the boy or answer in the court. I have never written any threatening letter whatsoever,” he added.
When contacted on phone, Nwachi said he would not say anything concerning the matter until mandated by the commissioner for education.
Ajaero-Anugor declined comment on the matter when contacted on phone.
