67-year old Kola Pele, the Vice-Principal of British Nigerian
Academy, Prince & Princess Estate, Abuja, who has taught in numerous
schools and nurtured many pupils, has narated how the embattled PDP
spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, invaded his school with policemen, beat him
up and bundled him inside his car booth.
It was learnt that the school vice principal was going about his
duty at the last BNA visiting day when the then National Vice-Chairman
(South-East), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, invaded the
school with his wife, policemen as well as aides and allegedly assaulted
him and other teachers for confiscating his son’s GSM phone.
Metuh, a lawyer-turned politician, allegedly held Pele by the
throat and reportedly ordered an aide to put him in his car boot, saying
'No police IG or SSS can secure your release.'
The incident, which occurred on February 19, 2011, caused panic
among the teachers and over 50 pupils that witnessed the incident as the
affected teachers later filed a lawsuit seeking N250m for general
damages, N10m for punitive damages and N350, 000 for medical bills. The
writ was issued by Joseph Dauda (SAN), the Nigeria Bar Association
President.
According to Pele, he went to the hostels around 6.30pm to check if
the parents had dispersed, when a teacher, Ms. Amuche Igbe, informed
him that she saw Metuh’s son, Derrick, a former pupil of the school,
giving his GSM phone to pupils to use in violation of the school rules.
The BNA VP explained that Amuche seized the phone, handed it to him
and he dropped it in his office. But he said a few minutes after, three
jeeps drove into the school premises at top speed and Metuh alighted
from the lead car.
"The jeeps drove round and round and this attracted pupils and
staff. Metuh alighted and said, 'who is Pele here' and I said I am. He
said, 'where is my son's phone. Before I could speak, he held my throat
and pushed me to the ground. He said his boys should put me and another
teacher, Babatunde Adedayo, in the car boot and that no police IG or SSS
can release us," Pele said.
According to him, a teacher, Hamzat Muftau, who was pleading with
the PDP leader to calm down, was knocked to the ground by one of Metu’s
aides.
He alleged that Metuh’s aides forcibly held Mufutau’s hands and
took away his office keys and phone in an attempt to get him to release
Derrick‘s phone. Incidentally, Derrick is no longer a pupil of the
school as he was withdrawn in December 2010 while in Senior Secondary 2.
Pele stated that the teachers, who were apprehensive that he might
be killed, advised him to release the phone, adding that the PDP leader
had no right to visit the school as his son was no longer a pupil,
adding that Metuh’s police aides did not intervene when he was being
molested.
He further said that although the incident was reported at Garki
Police Station, the Investigating Police Officer identified simply as
Felicia said 'Metuh could not be arrested because he is a big man, but could only be invited.'
Muftau, who corroborated Pele’s claim, stated that she saw Derrick
chatting with some female pupils and asked him to leave the school, but
instead of leaving, he walked towards the male hostel, saying he wanted
to retrieve his phone.
She said, "A pupil offered to get the phone for him, but
Derrick insisted on collecting it himself. There is a gap in the gate
through which a hand held out the phone, but before Derrick could take
the phone, I collected it from the person, but I could not identify the
pupil who brought it out."
Muftau also explained that every attempt to placate Metuh on the day was rebuffed as he insisted on having the phone.
"As I was begging him to take it easy, he said I should just
get him the phone, and that it is very expensive and can buy 200 of my
own. As I moved closer to him, his aide kicked me in the legs and I
fell; he said I was touching his boss. I suffered body pains, but I am
better now."
Another eyewitness, Adedayo, a housemaster, described the incident
as a show of shame, which might have degenerated into a serious violence
if more staff were around.
"When Metuh grabbed the VP by the throat, I moved to intervene,
but he asked his aide to put me and the VP in the boot of his jeep, and
boasted that no IG or SSS can release us," he explained.
When contacted, Metuh said nobody was man-handled, insisting that
the allegation was 'a lie to cover up their (the teachers’) incompetence
and stupidity.'
He said, "They don’t have the right to seize someone’s phone.
The school never has such rule on a visiting day. During the visiting
day, the pupils have the right to use the phone. When he was in the
school, my son took my phone and used it there. The rule doesn‘t say
anything about using phone on a visiting day.
"Why do they have to victimise a pupil because he left the
school? My son and wife were the victims. I don’t want to take issues
with them because the owner of the school is my friend. But I welcome
the law suit; let them serve me the writ."
*This article was originally published in Punch on March 11, 2011*.
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