Osun pupils riot, damage properties over girl's love
Pupils from Government Technical College, Osogbo, and Osogbo High School have engaged themselves in a riot over the possession of a girl's love.
The incident saw pupils of the schools engaged themselves in a free-for-all fight with the use of weapons.
During the fight, they damaged properties and sent teachers off classes with threats.
It was gathered that pupils of the technical college had launched a reprisal attack when the crisis escalated.
Though, it was reported that some pupils secured minor injuries, no one could be confirmed killed.
Eyewitnesses told Daily Times that the cause of the riot was the alleged snatching of a girl by one of the High school boys.
According to an eyewitness, who is a teacher in one of the schools, the riot is a continuation of an earlier clash late last year between pupils of the school.
Then, he said, it was the pupils of Technical college that snatched a girlfriend and they were also attacked.
He added, "This time it is the High School college that snatched a girlfriend and the technical pupils felt they must also revenge. They first fought on Tuesday, we intervened and it was settled. Later, we saw the technical boys regroup again and launched an attack on Wednesday and Thursday.
"The whole high school was in disarray and the teachers had to run for their lives. They eventually stopped when security personnel intervened."
One of the pupils confided in our correspondent that "the fight is now equal."
In a related development, the schools have been ordered closed by both the Nigeria Union of Teachers and state government.
According to the chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers, Osun State chapter, Mr. Amuda Alabi, on Sunday the closure was necessary to ensure safety of the teachers' lives.
He explained that the fight has been re-occurring but government and other security agencies refused to find a lasting solution to it.
He said, "We have asked our teachers to stay out of the school and innocent pupils should stay away too because we cannot guarantee their security. They should only return back when government provides security.
"When they are wounded, who will teach them? This is not the first time of such occurrence. It has happened in the past and we thought government will provide solution to it but there is none. We are not even addressing the cause of the crisis now, we want to address the welfare of our members."
When asked if the closure would not affect the academic performance of the pupils, he replied, "The union have closed down the school because the welfare of our members is paramount to us.
This is not the case of academic performance, we are talking about the lives of our members. It is the welfare of the teachers first, because they will be the one to teach these children to attain good academic performances."
Also, the Osun Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, said the closure of the school was to curtail violence and riots.
She lamented that the riot led to destruction of valuable property in Osogbo High School, running into millions of Naira.
This was contained in a statement by the Permanent Secretary, Osun State Ministry of Education, Mr Lawrence Oyeniran.
"While the closure is being effected, parents and guardians are advised to warn their children and wards to desist from acts that are capable of causing public disorder in the two schools and beyond.
"Consequently, security agencies have been directed to take charge of the two schools and maintain peace," it said.
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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