CRISIS: Govt shuts Areago High School Ogbomoso, as teachers demand justice, say, ‘police treatment embarrassing’
Yinka ADETUNJI
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The Oyo state government has closed down Areago High School, Ogbomoso, which has been embroiled in crisis with the people in its neighbourhood, resulting in the teachers withdrawing their services.
In the wake of the dispute, a statement on Monday by the Oyo state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology ordered the closure of the school for one week in the interim. Teachers during the period are expected to report at the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) zonal office in Ogbomoso.
Crisis started Thursday when three women on commercial motorcycles (okada) were prevented from passing through the school premises by students, a situation that later degenerated as residents of the area supported the three women to invade the school allegedly beating teachers and students.
On the second day the husband of one of the three women that instigated the crisis and who thereafter claimed to be pregnant incited the police to arrest four staff of the school including the vice principal administration, Mr. Ajayi Ayankunle Ernest; two other teaching staff, Mr. Oladeji and Mr. Adekunle; and the day guard.
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But while the teachers were being detained, hoodlums further attacked the other teachers in the school wounding some of them in the process, according to information gathered by ogbomosoinsightonline.com.
Angered by the action of their neighbours, and the “indiscretion” of the police in “effecting the arrest of the teachers without proper investigations,” the teachers, egged on by their union, Nigeria Union Teachers (NUT), stayed away from school on Monday.
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Expressing his disappointment Mr. Ajayi, the vice principal admin lamented he didn’t know why he was arrested; “teachers were attacked by hoodlums within the school premises and upon it they were still put in cell by the police. It doesn’t correlate.”
Asked what he wanted he declared matter-of-fact, “justice, justice must prevail. I have been put in psychological trauma. What is my offence?”
Mr. Oladeji, another victim informed he was teaching in class when he became aware of the commotion at another section of the school but “I was detained by the police. It is an illegal detention. I don’t know why I was detained and we were not allowed to write a statement. It was after we had been detained for four hours that we now wrote a statement. It is never done in any civilized society.We want justice,” he also insisted.
Mr. Adekunle spoke in the same vein, just as Mrs. Adebayo Felicia, another staffer of the school. Mrs. Adebayo disclosed she was attacked the second day with sticks and clubs “when about twenty roughnecks invaded the school. We alerted the police but only two were arrested but released almost immediately. No further arrest has been made. It is injustice, the police need to redeem their image.”
Meanwhile, the parent-teacher association (PTA) executive members, who informed that an emergency meeting was held Tuesday morning, also condemned the action of the police and the misguided residents of the area.
Mr. Ishola Ogungbire, chairman of the PTA, bemoaned the situation, remarking what happened was unfortunate.
Mr. Ogungbire said the association made announcements over the radio in the past that passersby, motorists and motorcyclists should desist from passing through the school premises.
He revealed that the meeting however resolved to placate the teachers to let their anger subside.
Other exco members who spoke with ogbomosoinsightonline.com including Mr. Abayomi Bolaji, Mr. Emmanuel Adetunji Adeniyi and Rev’d Gabriel Adisa, all appealed to the teachers to rescind their decision and return to classes noting they didn’t want the educational pursuit of their children to be hampered or derailed. “We don’t want them to become street boys.”
They also blamed the police for hastily effecting the arrest of the teachers, submitting, “Teachers should be respected and valued. Didn’t those police officers pass through school? It is overzealousness on their part. They should have exercised caution and discretion. It is a case of the victim being arrested. ‘Aitete m’ole ole n mu oloko.’ They attacked students and teachers in their school and you still arrested the victims because the aggressors reported first.
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“They failed the simple test of in-depth investigation. It is unacceptable. Moreover, this is a boy who is a tenant in the area and has no child in the school. It is an assault on the government itself because the teachers are representatives of government. The so-called complainant and the miscreants who joined him in the area should be made to face the wrath of the law. He should be made to learn his lesson. It is an embarrassment to the profession. Their action has adversely affected our children.”
It is learnt the “complainant” has meanwhile told the police he’s no more interested in prosecuting the teachers but a meeting has been slated for tomorrow, Wednesday. It should have been held Monday evening but was postponed.
