Parents and guardians of the 16 students of Oharisi Basic Secondary School in Ughelli, arrested for an alleged destruction of show glass stands belonging to traders selling snacks along the road leading to the school and injuring a man, have described as extortion on the part of the police and the Ughelli Vigilante Group to demand the sum of N50,000 each to grant them bail.
A parent, (name withheld) told this journalist that both the police, the community and the vigilante has just oppressed the innocents whom they referred as juveniles and did not commit the offence they are being punished.
Narrating what transpired, one of the parent of the arrested student said; “from the statement of the vigilantes, one may conclude that these students are innocent and the school should be able to know the behavior of each of their students and be able to speak for them at all times.
“This is a clear case of being at the wrong place at a wrong time. I can tell you that my son is innocent and I assure you that only the school authority will attest to that.
“We were called and informed as parents on the phone of what is happening and before we got to the Ughelli Kingdom hall were they took them, a retired policeman identified as Macaulay, the Ughelli Vigilante Chairman, Monday Ohwoesiri and the President General of Otovwodo Community, Chief Akpimegi, told us that the students have been handed to the police even in the presence of the school Principal.
” To us we were surprise about the rationale in taken the students to the police station hurriedly, but no one was ready to talk to us. It goes to show that all they were after was how they can extort money from us.”
What Happened At The Ughelli ‘A’ Division:
Another parent present narrated that, “When we got to the police station on Tuesday, March 26, in the evening, the police and the vigilantes told us that the students must sleep in the cell till Wednesday to enable them take inventory of those whose show glasses were allegedly broken and to know the cost. We didn’t argue with them as manhandled them like common criminals and not minding if they were juveniles.
“When we came on Wednesday, we were told that the man that sustained injury also lost his phone, and that everything was about Two hundred, Fifteen Thousand Naira (N215,000),and we the parents on ground contributed the money and paid to them.”
Those who spoke to this journalist said, what annoyed them most was that after all these, the police demanded Fifty Thousand Naira (N50,000) to grant each of the students bail. These children he noted, some do not have parents and some have no one to carter for them and those that have parents, some of their parents are just mere petty traders. The first contribution we did, we have to pay for some of them. If you sum up that money, it will amounts to about Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N800,000), how do we raise such amount, he queried.
Our Children Are Innocents, Vigilantes And Otovwodo Community President Didn’t Do Their Findings
Some of the parents also frowned at the actions of the vigilantes and how they handled the matter. They said those arrested are not among the students that threw stones, noting that they couldn’t have committed such offense and still wait at the scene for the vigilantes to arrest them.
“These were innocent students who after their exams were waiting for their means of transportation to come take them home and you arrested them because they wore same uniform. You didn’t allow them to speak but concluded that they are the ones throwing stones.
“We are not pleased with the situation at all. And I must tell you, those in authority should learn how to handle minor issues or cases. In this case, I can tell you it is a case of deliberate punishment to wrong persons. Again, they make the whole thing look like they are working together with the police to extort us, if not so, why will the retired policeman be the one directing them where to take the students. He didn’t direct them to the juvenile section, but rather, directed that they should be taken to his former office and be handed to one Edet. Is that office a juvenile office?, he queried.”
It is not clear if the students have been granted bail on Wednesday, but sources close to the scene of the incident confided in us that most of the students that spare headed the stone throwing escaped before the arrival of the vigilantes.
Another source also stated that most of the students arrested were just coming out of the school on their way home before they were forcefully picked by the vigilantes to their office and hurriedly transfered to the station.
I bail my child with N30,000:
A parents who spoke to this medium through phone said her son was granted bail with N30,000. She lamented that many of the parents who petty traders and peasant farmers could not raised the money, hence they result to individual bailing of their children.
She noted that the only option left for them is to withdraw their children and wards from the school since they cannot identify the stubborn ones among their students and identify those with cool head.
She said, “As at the time I left there, other students whose parents are unable to pay the amount charged to bail the students were still there in the cell.”
Meanwhile, those who came forward for claims, didn’t bring their properties allegedly destroyed by the students for evaluations before they were paid.