The family
of Queendaline Ekezie, a 15-year-old pupil of Army Day Secondary School,
Obinze, Owerri, Imo State, are inconsolable after two soldiers in the school
allegedly snuffed life out of her during a rigorous punishment.
The soldiers
were reported to have asked her to frogmarch after she arrived at school late
on Thursday.
The victim,
who became exhausted after repeating theexercise several times, was said to
have collapsed.
She was
reportedly rushed to an army hospital where she died.
Her father,
Hyginus, on hearing the news, passed out and was rushed to a hospital in the
community for treatment.
PUNCH Metro
learnt that Queendaline, who was in Junior Secondary School 3, was with a
colleague, Delight Aguocha, a JSS 2 pupil, when the incident happened.
Aguocha told
our correspondent that the rigour of the punishment killed her friend.
She said,
“On that day, we had set out at 7am. We waited for a motorcycle to take us to
school till it was 8am. When we became frustrated, we decided to board a
commercial cab. But the driver did not leave the motor park until the car was
filled with passengers.
“When we got
to school at 9am, we met three sets of late comers on the ground. Two soldiers
were asking each set to do frogmarch to a particular distance after which they
picked their bags and entered their classes.
“When it was
our turn, we were about reaching the finishing line when they said we were not
doing it right and we should start again. After we repeated it, we went to pick
our school bags, but one of the soldiers said he was still not satisfied.
“I completed
the punishment the third time and I picked my bag and left. I suddenly
discovered that my friend was not with me. When I returned to the place, I saw
her crying. She started vomiting the food she ate that morning. She was saying,
‘my back, my chest.’ The soldiers were just staring at us.”
She added
that while the 15-year-old groaned with pain, a teacher who was just arriving
in the school, observed her and asked if she had been sick before the time.
Aguocha said
she insisted that her friend was healthy, adding that the school principal, who
also later arrived, joined in examining her.
The victim,
who could no longer walk, was reportedly carried into the principal’s car en
route to the army hospital.
The friend
said Queendaline was given an injection and later put on a drip.
“After they
put on the drip, she started vomiting blood. Blood was spurting out of her
nostrils, mouth and ears. I called the teacher to inform her and she alerted a
nurse who said her condition had worsened,” she added.
The victim’s
sister, Immaculate, a Senior Secondary School 3 pupil in the school, said her
sister was not given adequate medical attention which contributed to her death.
She said,
“On that Thursday, she left for school before me. But because she had a delay,
I got to school earlier.
“I was
called around 10am that she was in the hospital. They didn’t put her on oxygen
and the drip had stopped flowing. When I saw her, she was vomiting blood and
shouting. She suddenly became still and the nurse asked us to leave. They
announced that she was dead.”
Immaculate
said her sister’s dream of becoming a lawyer and fighting for human rights had
been destroyed, adding that the soldiers should be held responsible.
PUNCH Metro
learnt that the remains of the victim were deposited in the Federal Medical
Centre mortuary, Owerri.
Our
correspondent was told that the news of the victim’s death shook her hometown
in Umuoso Mgbuisii, in the Ohaji/Egbema LGA of Imo State.
It was
learnt that the deceased was the second of five children.
Her mother,
Applonia, was too distraught to speak with our correspondent.
But the
brother, Okechukwu, said the family wanted Queendaline buried and the family
compensated.
The Chairman
of the Ohaji/Egbema LGA, Ebenezer Amadi, said he was “deeply saddened” by the
death because the victim was his uncle’s daughter.
He said the
community was awaiting the report of the autopsy to determine its next line of
action.
He said,
“The soldiers came to meet the family for a meeting, but the meeting could not
hold because the girl’s father fainted out of shock. From what we heard, she
was being punished for the first time when she slumped and died. So, I cannot
make any categorical statement until we see the result of the autopsy.”
The 82
Division’s spokesman and Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir
Musa, said it would be premature to comment on the incident as the Imo State
Ministry of Education had planned to issue a statement on it on Thursday
(today).
In a related
development, a teacher at Government Day Secondary School, Sankalawa, in the
Bungudu LGA of Zamfara has allegedly flogged a student to death.
The News
Agency of Nigeria reports that the incident was revealed on Wednesday by the
Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar-Gummi.
The deputy
speaker, who spoke under Matters of Urgent Public Importance during the
Assembly’s sitting in Gusau, said the House had received several reports on the
issue.
According to
him, another incident at Government Female Day Secondary School, Kwatarkwashi,
led to the injury of a student in the school after the vice principal allegedly
subjected her to heavy punishment.
Gummi said,
“These problems, apart from discouraging our children from acquiring education,
also revealed the poor attitude to work by teachers in this state.”
The Speaker,
Alhaji Sanusi Rikiji, described the actions of the teachers as unfortunate and
vowed that the Assembly would not allow the matter to pass.
“It is part
of our responsibilities to ensure effective security and good learning
atmosphere for our children for their future development, therefore, we cannot
allow teachers to continue harassing our children from schools,” he said
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