By Cyril Mbah, Abuja
A female teacher engaged by the Federal Government College, FGC, Kwali, in the Nigeria Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Dorcas Gibson, has been detained by the Police for allegedly beating a 13-year-old Junior Secondary 2 student, Yahaya Nuhu, to death for failing to do his school homework.
Reliable source said that Mrs. Gibson was arrested after failed attempts by the school authorities to cover-up the crime.
According to the source whose identity could be revealed in this report for security reasons, the school had allegedly lied that the cause of the deceased’s death was cerebral malaria or typhoid while he was on admission at Kwali Remah Clinic.
This Paper further gathered that the school management presented a death certificate to the family, showing that the Yahaya died of malaria.
The source also disclosed that the tragic incident happened in the school on Monday, August 9, 2021 when Mrs. Gibson allegedly gave Yahaya a severe beating and struck the his head with an iron suspected to be a plastic bucket handle.
When it was apparent that Yahaya was unresponsive but sat still in the class for too long as a result of the beating, the school authorities quickly rushed him to the school medical centre and later to Remah Clinic.
According to the source, when the school authorities informed the family that their son died of malaria, the family did not suspect any foul play and took the loss in good faith without complaining.
But two days after his death, fresh facts emerged when a group of Yahaya’s school mates staged a protest match from the school to the boy’s family house where they disclosed that the boy was thoroughly beaten and tortured, hence, the family contacted the police.
According to the schoolmates, Yahaya told the teacher before the punishment that he was unable to do his homework because he was not feeling fine but the teacher who was dissatisfied with the deceased’s excuse ordered him to uproot some grasses sprouting around the classroom building as punishment and after completing the task, Mrs. Gibson still flogged him.
One of the students who spoke on the matter on conditions of anonymity said, “During Period 8, Mrs. Gibson entered our class and requested for assignment submission. Yahaya and I failed to submit and as a result she ordered us to pick out grass.
“Yahaya informed the teacher that he was ill and didn’t do the assignment. She then ordered us to clear the grass, after which we returned to class.
“Yahaya was resting his head on the desk due to the illness but the teacher beat him very hard on the head with a metal bucket handle until he passed out,” the student narrated.
Orient Daily further learnt that the family approached the school authorities on the matter after the student’s protest and a meeting was arranged for August 11 and 13, during which the school management admitted that the late student was flogged.
The school authorities however pleaded with the parents to forgive and forget the matter as further probe and dragging will hurt everyone.
But the Principal of the school, Mr. Dahiru Shehu, the private hospital and the Police are yet to respond to inquiries on the matter at the time of filing this report.