Six teachers at the Federal Government Girls College in
Calabar on Thursday alleged that they were beaten in the presence of pupils by
operatives of the Department of State Services, Cross River State Command.
They alleged that the armed security officials stormed the
school premises at about 10am on the invitation of a female DSS official who
had come to beat up a teacher for flogging her daughter.
One of the teachers, Mr. Owai Owai, said he was flogged in
front of his pupils by the DSS woman and her husband.
Other teachers, who claimed to have been beaten up when the
school later became flooded with DSS officials, identified themselves simply as
Ndarake, Inyang, Udoh, Agba, Njor and the college’s Chief Security Officer,
John Ikpeme.
A security official, identified as James, said the DSS
officials who stormed the school in three vehicles, shot repeatedly into the
air before they forcefully gained entrance.
However, the state Director of DSS, Mr. Fubara Duke, said
the matter was a case of mistaken identity.
But PUNCH Metro observed that the school gate had bullet
holes, while some spent shells were seen on the floor.
Owai, who teaches Civic Education in the senior class, said
trouble started when he flogged some pupils for failing to sweep their
classroom.
He said, “I was about to teach when I noticed some junior
pupils sweeping the classroom of the senior pupils. I learnt that the senior
pupils had imposed it on them. It was a wrong precedent because all the pupils
had been told to sweep their respective classes.
“I punished the senior pupils who ordered the junior ones to
sweep. I gave each of them two strokes
of the cane on their palm and one of them challenged me for flogging her.
Before I knew what was happening, she telephoned her mother, whom I later
learnt was a DSS official. The mother came to the school with her husband and
they started beating me.
“They used my own cane to flog me in the presence of the
pupils. My fellow teachers came in to stop them, but they were rebuffed. Later,
the DSS woman called her colleagues for reinforcement and that was how the
school became flooded with DSS officials. They started beating teachers who ran
into them.”
Another teacher, Amos Princewill, said the DSS officials
took away two mobile phones, a binocular and N80,000 belonging to his
colleagues who were molested.
But DSS Director, Duke, said, “It was not true that they
used guns. What happened was that there was a mistaken identity somewhere. Our
people responded to a call from them and on getting there, a group of hoodlums
that had earlier gone there took to their heels.
“Meanwhile, a parent had gone to the school to complain that
her daughter was beaten up by a teacher. She (the parent) was mistaken to be
among the hoodlums and some teachers from the school pounced on her. They even
attacked a DSS official. I have complained to the school authorities to take
administrative action against what they did to a member of my staff.”
0 Comments