Teachers lament ordeal in hands of thugs in Delta school

By Jimitota Onoyume

The Vice Principal of Erhavwe Secondary School in Ekrerahavwe, Agbarho Kingdom, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, Mr. Lucky Otuaga, the Maths teacher of the school, Mr. Charles Ovwigho and the Chairman Education Committee of Ekrerahavwe, who is also a staff of the school, yesterday, narrated their ordeal in the hands of thugs allegedly brought by a female student, Miss Deborah Kazeem, to attack the Maths teacher on May 14.

The Vice Principal, Mr. Otuaga and some of the staff of the school, who spoke to Vanguard said they suffered injuries during the attack. The Maths teacher, Ovwigho said he even had his reading glasses smashed during the incident.

They said though the community, the Nigerian Union of Teachers and the Ministry of Education, Delta State had waded into the matter, but they were not in a hurry to forget the humiliating experience in the hands of the thugs allegedly brought in by the female student.

The principal of the school, Patience Ekakitie also decried the incident, adding that though the matter was before a magistrate’s court in Agbarho, efforts were on to withdraw it for amicable resolution of the issue.
Vanguard gathered that the female student has been placed on indefinite suspension.

Narrating their ordeal, the Vice Principal, Mr. Otuaga said he was in his office attending to a parent when suddenly he heard commotion within the school premises and quickly dashed out to find out what was happening.

“Surprisingly, I saw that some non students had invaded the school and went straight to attack the Maths teacher. In the video you saw of the incident, you noticed that some of the boys attacked me from the back while we were trying to use cane to separate the boys from the teacher. I sustained an injury that day,” he said.

On his part, the Maths teacher, Ovwigho, said: “ I was teaching, the girl was not paying attention. Instead of allowing her to distract my class, I had to seize the phone. What annoyed me was when she carried her phone to show the film she was watching to another student in the class.

“The distraction was so much that I had to seize the phone and took it to the principal, there were even two students. Later she came to meet me at the staff room and I asked her to go bring her Maths note.
“I wanted to even see if she wrote anything. She brought another student’s note and wrote her name on the note. I insisted she bring another one for me to make sure the first one was hers.

“She brought another one and did the same thing, she even cancelled the name there and wrote her own. When she did not get her phone, she later said she would call her father.

“Not too long after that, a group of boys entered the school and were shouting ‘Where is the teacher who beat her up.’ They attacked me and started fighting me. That was the video you saw.”

The teacher dismissed allegations by some persons in the community that he had made sexual advances at the girl.

“I was transferred to this school on May 5. God will punish those saying this. I don’t even know the girl. I was just transferred to the school on May 5. I don’t know the girl. I don’t even know her,” he said.

The Vice Principal, Mr. Otuaga, who also dismissed the sexual allegation, said he had been in the school since 2020 and no teacher had been accused of such an act.

Mr. Edematie Sunday, Education Committee Chairman, Ekrerahavwe community also gave his account of what happened: “I was there when the boys attacked. The student called the boyfriend and three other boys came to the school to fight the teacher.

“I rushed to stop the fight. I called the vigilante of the community. And they took the matter to the police and it was later charged to court. We arrested two of the boys that day.”

Asked if it’s a policy of the school that students in senior classes should not come to school with their phones, he said it was.

He said: “It is government policy and the school’s Parents Teachers Association’s policy, PTA, that students should not come to class with their phones. Two phones were even seized that day in the class by the teacher. I was injured in my left eye that day. The community is handling the matter. The margistrate gave us time to make a settlement and come back on the 29th of this month.

“The matter is at the margistrate’s court in Agbarho. There have been appeals from the family members that we settle out of the court.”

Recall that a video of the incident showing the teachers and the Vice principal of the school being attacked by the suspected thugs trended recently and attracted global condemnation.