Anxiety In Federal Government College As Students Tortured By Senior Dies

Angry parents have expressed fear and anxiety over the fate of Junior Secondary School (JSS) students at the Federal Government College (FGC), Ikot Ekpene local government area of Akwa Ibom State.

This  followed the death of a JSS2 student, Ufokobong Edwin Godwin, who was allegedly tortured by a Senior Secondary School (SSS3) over a minor argument on the refusal of the deceased to release his provisions to the desperate senior.

Consequently, ahead of the resumption of the school this weekend, tension has mounted the teacher-student community for what angry parents described as negligence by both the school management and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) leading to the avoidable death of the 12-year-old.

It was gathered that late Ufokobong was tortured in the school hostel by the senior before the Easter holiday, but left home without proper examination and treatment before ejecting him from the hostel.

Narrating the incident, one of the students who lived in the same hotel with deceased, recalled that the senior student approached the victim for his provisions during the terminal examinations, but the deceased refused, insisting that he didn’t have enough to share .

The student reportedly hit the deceased on the neck, after which he went into a coma.

“He later regained consciousness in the hospital  and was taken back to school. When the holiday came, the parents picked him up without being informed of any incident involving their son. (Perhaps the school did not think the injury was that serious.)”

The student who pleaded anonymity said the senior descended on late Ufokobong, beating him black and blue by hitting his neck until he fainted three times before other students raised the alarm for his rescue.

He said students rushed to inform the boarding master who took  the deceased to an undisclosed hospital before he regained consciousness and left for the Easter vacation.

He said when the parents picked the boy up on closing day, the school management refused to inform them of what happened to the boy so as to continue his medication at home during the Easter holiday.

“At home the boy developed severe pains on his neck and was shouting my neck , my neck my neck!, before parents bought pain relief drugs unknown to them that  the incident was more than ordinary pains.

“When the pains was more severe, the father rushed the deceased to hospital where he died on Easter Sunday.

Back home, the parents said the boy started complaining of throat pain on Wednesday, and they got medication for him.

“On Saturday night, the father called some of his friends (one of whom shared this story ), asking them to pray for his son, who had been taken to the hospital.

“By Sunday morning, around 1:00am, the boy passed on. The hospital later confirmed that he died from complications associated with blood clots around his throat and the neck region,” he stated.

Investigations reveal that there were other cases of bullying in the college but the management cover up just to protect powerful parents.

One of the parents who would not want his name in print, recalled some near- fatal cases of bullying that were averted, disclosing that last year, a senior student in SS3 used box iron to hit a junior one on the head and the boy collapsed.

He said the school management had frantically rushed the student to the University Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) where the boy’s parents spent more than one month for treatment after the school had spent over N200,000.

But despite these ugly incidences in a school environment in which discipline should not be compromised, he noted regrettably,  that bullying has continued with reckless abandon, while management, the PTA watch helplessly.

Another source In the school disclosed that bullying has continued in the school unabated including girls hostels where fellow students subjected their juniors to torture and other forms of punishment while management  looked the other way.

“Last year some girls put their junior girls in a bag and zipped it up until the child suffocated,” she recalled.

“Bullying has become so rampant such that a group of parents who prided themselves as ‘Transformation Team’ campaigned during the PTA election in February this year.

“When they won the PTA election, they didn’t bother to address the issues they were elected but rather focus on PTA funds, sharing the money to their political godfathers, while students’ welfare continue to deteriorate.

“During this Easter holiday, the security man caught a suspected thief with cartons of indomie noodles meant for students .

“The suspected thief was handed over to the Police but the principal called the DPO and pleaded that the suspect should be released. This was done immediately,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the family of the deceased student have called on the federal government to investigate the circumstances leading to death of their son.

Lamenting the untimely death of his son, the distraught father said though he is weakened by the incident, government should probe immediately for those culpable to be brought to justice.

“I can not talk now. I am calling on the federal government to intervene for justice . I will talk at appropriate time,” he said.