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A 12-year-old student of Simple Faith Schools, Agbara, Lagos State, Emmanuel Amidu has died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Surulere.
The father of the JSS 2 pupil, Akinola Amidu alleged that his son was flogged by a teacher for failing to do his homework.
According to Akinola, Emmanuel started vomiting shortly after he was beaten by his teacher and he was rushed to a hospital where he gave up the ghost.
Akinola accused the management of the school of protecting the mathematics teacher, Steven, who allegedly flogged Emmanuel for not completing his assignment.
According to him boy’s father, “I was at home that Thursday because I was on leave. I recall that Emmanuel asked me for money to buy a new exercise book and I gave him N500 to buy the book and give the remaining change to his sister.
“Later that day, I was called by the management of the school that Emmanuel was vomiting. Meanwhile, this was a boy who left home without any health issues. I had to go to the school and we moved him to a hospital.
“I later learnt that the whole thing started after their class teacher, Mr Steven, beat the whole of his class for not completing their mathematics assignment.
“Emmanuel was using my phone torchlight to do his assignment a day before, but I had to collect the phone from him and his sister because I needed to be in contact with the office. We had issues with our electricity at home.
“It was at LUTH that I lost my son. Meanwhile, the management of the school quickly ran to the Morogbo Police Station at Agbara to report that my son died from vomiting.
“How can somebody just die from vomiting if nothing triggers it? The management of the school is trying to protect the teacher.”
The 45-year-old called for the arrest and prosecution of the teacher, charging the state government for justice in this case.
The 13-year-old sister of Emmanuel, Rachael claimed that he started vomiting after he was beaten.
Rachael said, “I was called by our English teacher that my brother was not feeling fine and he did not eat and had been sleeping.
“His friend told me that they were beaten for not doing their sums in mathematics and after that he was just sleeping and vomiting.”
The school Principal, Adetayo Akanji, described the incident as unfortunate.
He said, “I was there when Emmanuel died on Friday and it was unfortunate that it happened this way. Yes, Steven flogged the whole class for not doing their sums, but not to hurt them.
“Some hours after that, he (Emmanuel) placed his head on his desk and he started vomiting, after which water was poured on his head.
“When he started to vomit, the proprietor called me and we took the boy to the hospital their father joined us when he was taken to LUTH where he and I were running around to get prescribed drugs for him. But before we came back, he had given up. Our school reported the matter at the Morogbo Police Station.”