By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta
Ogun State Government has suspended indefinitely the principals of Ilugun High School, Elega, Mrs. Olukoga Adeyemi Alaba (Junior Secondary School), and Mrs. Ladipo Olabisi Temitope (Senior Secondary School) over the death of a suspected student.
Reacting to a viral video where students were seen vandalising school properties, on Tuesday, the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, stated that the suspension became necessary owing to the roles played by the principals in the scenario.
Arigbabu added that it was discovered that the principal of the Junior school had been involved in the collection of illegal fees, an action that led to a protest by the students.
In the eschewing protest, security agents were invited to calm nerves, which subsequently led to a melee.
It was gathered that management of both Junior and Senior arms of Ilugun High School had demanded the sum of N7, 500 from the students before they could be allowed to check their results for the JSS and SSS examinations.
The affected students were said to have protested the illegal charges, following which the school allegedly invited the “Amotekun” Corps to quell the rampage.
But in the course of enforcing the school’s order, operatives of the Amotekun Corps allegedly pursued some of the students up to a river where three of them scaled the school’s perimeter fence and landed in the canal, where one of them drowned.
“We have all become aware of the unfortunate incident that took place at Ilugun High School (Junior), Elega. I stand before you this afternoon to confirm that, sadly, the incident did happen in the school.
“First, let me on behalf of the state government, express our deepest condolences to the parents and family of the deceased. We feel their pain and our prayers are with them at this difficult time.
“However, our preliminary investigations revealed a very disturbing twist. The young man who lost his life could not be confirmed as a bona fide student of the school.
“He was identified by three different names – Babalola Ayornide, Salako Jimoh, and Afolabi Babalola. Yet, none of these names appear in our official state education database, the OGSERA platform, which authenticates all school enrolments. This points to the likelihood of an illegal enrolment.
“In addition, we also discovered that the Principal of Ilugun High School (Junior) had been involved in the collection of illegal fees. In light of these findings, government has decided to place both the Junior and Senior Principals of Ilugun High School on suspension while we conduct a thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of this unfortunate incident.
“Also in order to keep abreast of happenings in schools, a scheme called ‘Whistle Blowers’ has been established by the government through the Teaching Service Commission to control illegalities, wrongdoings and others.
“Let me assure the good people of Ogun State that the administration of His Excellency, Prince Dapo Abiodun, CON remains unshaken in its commitment to provide free education for every school-age child in this State, irrespective of where they live, their gender, economic status, religious belief, or political affiliation,” he said.
“I must also appeal to the students: while we share in your grief, please do not vent your anger by destroying school property. We all know that we are still battling with inadequate infrastructure in our schools. Destroying the little we have will only make the situation worse, not better.”
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