IBADAN – SANITY was thrown to the wind in
Ibadan as some men of the Nigeria Customs
Service stormed a secondary school, United
Senior Secondary School, Ijokodo, Ibadan and
beat a teacher mercilessly for daring to punish a student whose father is a Customs officer. Though, none of the students of the school
was injured during the chaotic situation, the
teachers in the school and other traders
around the school said the Customs men shot
sporadically to scare some students and
teachers who wanted to come to the rescue of the teacher, Mr. Gbenga Ogunleye while he was
being beaten by four officers in uniform. The boy, Allison Ebuka who is in SS 3, had gone
to the Customs Barrack to invite his parent after
he had allegedly refused to serve punishment
with other students who were found culpable
of indecent behavior. While speaking with newsmen yesterday, the
helpless teacher, said “last Friday, some boys
who are fond of dressing indecently to school
and assembling in an uncompleted building
during odd hour were rounded up by the
teachers and had all their indecent dresses, slippers, and other things that the school does
not allow seized”. “We told them to form a queue and ask them to
jump up and down. But Ebuka did not respond
despite telling him to do so. I then used the
cane in my hand to compel him, still he resisted.
He then went home to call his father, mother
and cousin. To my surprise, when his parent came, the father asked him to identify me,
instructed him to beat me in his presence”, he
said. “When I was resisting, the boy went for a
wheel spanner and was aiming at my head.
But, I used my hand to protect my head. The
father then asked for reinforcement. Other
officers in uniform drove in with high speed
into the school compound. They dragged me on the ground, beat me to stupor and tore my
shirt. When other teachers and students came
to my rescue, the Customs men fired shots and
students began to jump over the fence”. When Vanguard got to the school yesterday,
the teachers said the boy in question had been
expelled by the Ministry of Education. The teacher, who was hospitalized as a result of
the beating, said he was yet to buy the drugs
that were prescribed for him. “I was taken to Jericho Hospital for treatment.
They treated me and prescribed some drugs.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers in the state has
taken exception to the behviour of the
Customs officer”, he said. Efforts made to get the Customs officer or the
command were unsuccessful. As at the time of
filing this report, the Public Relations officer of
Customs in Ibadan, Mrs. Nkiru Nwala had
travelled and several calls made to her phone
were not connected.