The police in Ogun State have arrested a couple, Oyedele Joseph, and his wife Elizabeth Joseph, for hiring thugs to beat up their son’s teachers.
The PUNCH reported that their son, Joshua Joseph, a secondary school student was sent home on Tuesday after turning up with an unacceptable haircut.
He was said to have returned with his parents and thugs to invaded the Toyon High School, Ere, Ado-Odo, in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, leaving three teachers brutalised and a vehicle vandalised.
In 2021, at least four teachers were beaten by hoodlums and as a result, parents were made to sign mandatory undertaking forms a few weeks ago to prevent such occurrence the state.
An eyewitness said, “Three teachers were beaten – Messrs Abel Thomas, Kabir Azeez and Adegun Adekunle. The car that was destroyed belongs to Mr Jolayemi Jeromu. One of the thugs, Posu Baale, was the one who smashed the car’s windscreen.”
Confirming the incident, the Vice Principal of the school, Mrs Mariam Onilogbo, said, “On Monday, we asked our student to go and cut his hair because the hair he brought to school was not acceptable. Yesterday (Tuesday), he came again with that same hair and we told him to go and cut the hair. I collected his bag and told him to come back after cutting the hair. Coming back to school, he came with two men and two women to accuse us that why should we ask him to go and cut his hair.
“I told them that if we could not tell him to cut his hair, all of them should leave my office. I gave them his bag and told them to go and teach him at home. They went out and I started to hear noises on the school premises. They started beating the teachers. They smashed the windscreen of a car parked in the school.
“Yesterday evening, they came to our quarters again, claiming that we stole their phone. They almost attacked us. We told them that their phone was not with us. They came to meet us again this morning, but we thank God no one was attacked.”
It was gathered that the school teachers invited the police after locking up the suspects in the computer room.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Wednesday, confirmed the arres of the Oyedeles.
Oyeyemi said one of the teachers, Thomas, was attacked for “having the effrontery to beat their son, Joshua Joseph, an SSS3 student of the school.”
He said, “Preliminary investigation revealed that the teacher moderately corrected an SSS3 student, Joshua Joseph, who then went home to inform his parents that he was beaten by the teacher.
“Having heard from their son, the parents, who felt that the teacher had no right to beat their son for any reason, mobilised some thugs and stormed the school.
“On getting to the school, they descended heavily on the teacher, beat and injured him.
“They also damaged the back screen of a Toyota Corolla belonging to another teacher of the school, Jolayemi Sunday.
“The injured teacher has been taken to a hospital for medical treatment.”
The Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, ordered that the escaped thugs be brought to justice while directing “that the arrested couple be charged to court without delay,” the PPRO added.
