The mother of 10-year-old Julia, a student of Chrisland schools, allegedly gang raped by her fellow students has stated that her daughter was dying in silence due to threats from her school, calling Nigerians for help.
In an 11 minutes video posted by Nigerian musician, Ubi Franklin, the mother of the victim alleged that the school authority was trying to cover the issue.
Part of her confession:” So, as a mother and the part that Chrisland played to cover this issue. Chrisland, on the day of mother’s day, I was in school, not knowing that they had delegates that interrogate my daughter without my consent.
“Secondly, they have been threatening my daughter if she speaks that they will kill her. That it is a men’s world and my daughter was dying in silence I didn’t know, ” she said
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government on Monday shut down all the branches of Chrisland Schools in the state following the outcry by the mother that her 10-year-old daughter was raped while on a trip to Dubai, UAE.
The government said it took the step to thoroughly investigate the matter.
“The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to the alleged sexual violence case involving students of Chrisland Schools which occurred in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“It is pertinent to note that all allegations are being investigated by the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including Ministry of Education, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Ministry of Justice and the Lagos State Domestic & Sexual Violence Agency, whilst the criminal allegations have been escalated to the Commissioner of Police.
“In view of the allegations, we are committed to ensuring that adequate medical and pscyho social support is provided.
This is to reassure members of the public of the State Government’s commitment to safety and child protection, especially in ensuring that all child-centered institutions within the state, formulate and implement policies and systems that are compliant with the Executive Order (NO.EO/AA08 of 2016), Lagos State Safeguarding and Child Protection Program.
“We also use this medium to remind the general public that any person who engages in any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child, commits an offence and is liable to custodial sentence of fourteen (14) years. This includes “producing, distributing, receiving, or possessing an image of child pornography”.
In the meantime, all Chrisland Schools within Lagos State are hereby closed, pending further investigations,” the statement read.
Chrisland Schools are among the most elitist in the country and has campuses spread across the state.
Reacting to the incident, the National President of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, said a thorough investigation must be conducted into the matter and nobody should be spared if found culpable.
“It has shown the level of moral decadence on our society and we must stem the tide at all cost. If the culprits are young ones, they should not be allowed to pollute others and if it is somebody above 18 years, he must face the law appropriately,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, the Lagos State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Comrade Hassan Akintoye, also called for probe.
He noted that the state government should also be cautious to get to the root of the matter and descend on anybody found guilty.
However, the Head Teacher, Chrisland Schools, Mrs G.I. Azike, in a statement said the incident happened while the students were attending the World School Games in Dubai.
She added,” some students engaged in some immoral acts while they said they were playing a game tagged “Truth or Dare Game”. It happened after the official light out for the day.”
She said the parents and guardians of the affected students were duly informed and that appropriate steps and actions taken.
She said the school had zero tolerance for moral misconduct and would not tolerate such.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command said it has begun an investigation into the matter.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the attention of the Command has been drawn to a video that has gone viral purportedly involving students of Chrisland School, Lagos.
“The Command has commenced investigations into the matter to establish the identities of the players in the video, the true incident in the video, the geographical location of the incident, the alleged threat to life against a student of the school and circumstances surrounding the alleged repeated pregnancy tests conducted on a student without parental consent.”
“The Command is equally taking cognizance of the cybercrime angle to the whole episode and would not hesitate to enlist the support of the Interpol should the need arise. For a holistic and unbiased investigation, the Command shall be working with relevant ministries, departments, agencies and non-governmental organizations.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi, has assured that due diligence would be observed to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice.
