---APPLAUDS ARREST OF PROPRIETRESS OF CRADLE OF WISDOM SCHOOL FOR CHILD ABUSE
The Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network ACVPN has condemned in strong terms the rising cases of child abuse in schools in Lagos state.
The Coordinator of ACVPN, Mr. Ebenezer Omejalile raised this concerns as he called on the Lagos state government to halt with immediate effects the ugly situation where school children are being flogged, maimed and brutalized by school owners in the name of discipline.
He was reacting to the the flogging of a school boy by the proprietor of Cradle Of Wisdom School over his lateness to school . The flogging has left the boy in great pains and unable to walk
The mother of the brutalized boy, MrsPatience Omolayo a widow narrated the incident. She said
"On the 29th June 2024, friday , I came back in the evening from my work and saw my son limping in pains, I asked him what happened because he was very strong and healthy when he went to school in the morning.
"My son now told me he was flogged by his proprietress for coming late to school . He told me he couldn't get bike on time in the morning due to the rain that fell and there was transport fare hike ,so he has to walk some distance before he was able to get a bike that took him for 200 naira "
"Getting to the school ,she arraigned him and told 2 senior students to hold him by the hands and legs and she flogged him some strokes of the cane ,the students dropped him down and the proprietress called another set of seniors to carry him again and the flogging continued even when they threw him down on the ground ,she continued to flog him ".
I decided to put a call through to the proprietress herself that night and asked her what could be the reason why she would beat my son so much that he is limping on one leg when I got home ,I demanded to know exactly what my son did that was so bad to warrant this kind of treatment".
"She told me YES ! she beat him up". because she has been warning him not to come late and he refused, that if he cannot follow the rules of the school , he would be disciplined !!!. I now told her that what about days my children ( I have 3 kids in the school..., Jss1, Basic 4 and Kg2) get to school by 7am in the morning ,who did she report them to ? Why should it be because my son came just few minutes late ,she would now have to beat him up so bad like this . She continued to shout at me without no remorse for what she did ,even claiming she was right and would continue to beat him if he flouts the rules of the school".
" For the records , it was barely 3 weeks ago I just returned from the burial of my husband in crossriver . And when my children resumed school ,the same week ,because of a little misunderstanding between this my same son and a senior student ,the proprietress told him that she would "beat him up and wait for his mother"even when she was aware I just came back from my husband's burial . Infact ,I felt so bad that I had to go to the school and ask the teachers to give me her nos so I could call her and ask her why she would make such a hateful statement to me even when she knows I am grieving , they refused to give me her nos saying they do not disclose her nos to anyone . I however told them what she said and made they know I am highly disappointed in her making such statement to my son. It shows she is heartless and she has no feeling for what I was going through . They (Principal & the proprietress daughter that is also a teacher in the school) made excuses for her and did not allow me access to her, so I left ".
Waking up on the 29th Saturday,the day after my son was flogged , he couldn't sleep the whole night crying of pains and a this got me infuriated and I called my parents to come and let us go and meet the proprietress to show her what she did to my son . Getting to their house , we were at the gate when we sighted the daughter upstairs inside the compound and I called her attention and told her we wanted to see the mother ".
To my surprise , she told me to come back on Monday because this was not school hours ,it was at this juncture our family friend that went with us opened the gate and went into the compound . The daughter then came down and I was telling her to present the mother but she refused and instead of pleading on behalf of her mother for what she did , she started hurling insults at me saying I was a witch as well since I called her mother a witch . The noise attracted the the CDA members who came and enquired about what happened ".
After much persuasion from the CDA secretary ,the daughter agreed to take my son to the school hospital . Getting there , he was examined by the doctor and was given 1 injection and some few tablets ( amoxicillin and paracetamol) "
As we were preparing to leave the hospital ,the proprietress daughter that was with us ,asked me to give her my acct details so that she would return back the exam fee of my son to me which I never demanded for before. The exam is scheduled to hold on Saturday 6th of July 2024. This got me infuriated and I asked her what right she has to be angry and why she was playing the victim here just because they spent a little fee in treating my son? ,everyone present at the scene starting talking to her that she was only displaying the arrogance in her and her attitude was really appalling ".
After much pleading from the CDA secretary that was with us at the hospital , we went home and I continued to take care of my son ,massaging him and using balm on his body , but the more I did that ,the more the pains increased on the body of my son and he kept on complaining about the pains ".
On Monday, 1st of July, when he went to school , he was harassed by the son of the proprietress who told my son to take his bag and leave the school premises , he was only stopped by his mother who told him to leave my son ,then he threatened my son that if he sees him on Saturday at the school coming to do his exams ,he would make sure he along with his family are hospitalized ".
This threat and the health condition of my son that was even getting worse led me to lay a formal report to the police force in our jurisdiction. After giving the report to the Family support unit ,the proprietress was invited to come to the office to say her part of the complaint that was issued on her . She agreed to come and the call ended . Few minutes later ,she called to back and this time ,it was her son that spoke saying a formal invite should be sent to them and that things should be done the right way. An officer that was close to the proprietress however pleaded with her (FSU agent) to suspend the invite that she would talk to the mother to come and the Family support Unit officer obliged her .
Getting to the police station on the 2nd of July Tuesday , we waited for the proprietress to show up and when she didn't, the FSU officer called the proprietress on her mobile nos , it was picked up by her son who told the FSU officer that he has locked his mother inside and she is not coming out anywhere that an invite should be sent to them . Thus we went to see the DPO at his office to let him know what was happening.
Hearing the response of the son, the DPO told me to give him the proprietress nos which I did and he put a calk through to her . The son again picked and after introducing himself the DPO told him why he was calling . The son told the DPO that he should know what he was saying was recorded before he continues and the DPO told him okay ,then the son repeated the same thing he had told the FSU officer that a proper invitation should be sent to them if they want them to come to the station . The DPO now told him alright and said he would receive an invite soonest.
This was when myself and the FSU officer went out to the school and on getting there ,the son met us with his sister at the gate and told the FSU officer to introduce herself and if she is not ready to do that she should leave the premises as she is constituting a threat to the premises .
" The FSU officer then asked to see the proprietress and both of them told her never ,that she cannot see the proprietress,she then told them that she had an invite for them to the station by the DPO . Without even opening /accepting the invite ,the son told her to go away with her written invite and sh should go and bring a proper invitation to him ,that the invite was not legal and that he would not accept such an invite from him . The FSU officer then put a call to the DPO telling him what was happening and that the young man has refused to accept the invitation sent to him "
"The DPO then told us to come back to the station and pick him . We went back and picked the DPO to the school ,and on getting there , the boy was still saying there was no serial number on the invitation and told the sister to zoom in properly on the invite . The DPO then told him that if he refused arrest , he would mobilize officer to forcefully carry everyone from the school ,it was this statement that now moved him to follow us to the station ".
It's was gathered that policemen from the Family Support Unit FSU, Igando Police Station went for the arrest of the proprietress and Son by name oke .
Oke was seen in a video refusing to collect an invitation to her mother to come to the station. He was busy challenging the police woman who brought the letter that the invitation letter was not formal so he will not accept it. He ignored the initial Police invitation rather bragging he has power of Attorney in his mother's school.
It took the efforts of the Divisional Police Officer DPO who had to come to the school himself and threatening to call back up to effect thier arrests before he followed the policemen to the station.
It was gathered that the school had sent a text message to the victim's mother to come for a refund of school fees as her son and other two children attending the school have been expelled
Mr.Omejalile said he can't fathom how the school will haul insult on top of the injury they done. He stated that after inflicting such level of brutality on a child , the school expelled the woman 's other children and they refused to honour police invitation.
He said " The Lagos State Ministry of Education Quality Assurance, the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development MYSD Alausa Secretariat (School social work), the Lagos State Ministry of Justice as this case is , the abuser must face the music squarely. Such rascals must be shown nobody is above the Law. Recall there was similar case of this Nature at Ikorodu perpetrated by Another Islamic proprietress we are still battling with in Court No thanks to the corrupt system,
it has been back and forth despite Lagos State claim that the state's zero tolerance to capital punishment still stands..
It was gathered that the suspects have since been arraigned and granted bail in the sum of N200,000 each.
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