Pupils attack teachers with guns in Osun

Some teachers at Anglican High School and Adenle Middle School in Osogbo narrowly escaped being shot when some cultists invaded the school compound and chased out teachers.

The school which houses student population of about 7,000 is made up of Anglican High School 1-5 and some students of Adenle Middle School.

Our correspondent gathered on Thursday that the crisis was caused by some students who knew they could not pass the qualifying examination the state wanted to conduct to select those whose WAEC fee would be paid by the state government.

But some said the crisis started last Friday when a student identified as Toib and his colleagues stormed the school premises with dane guns to attack a member of Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme ( O’ YES cadet) who they had issues with.

A teacher told our correspondent that Toib and his gang chased a female Home Economics teacher out of the class when the trouble started.

The invasion of the school forced other students and workers to flee.

The Friday invasion was said to have forced the school authorities to invite policemen but the cultists mobilised more members and attacked the police even on Monday.

The development, it was gathered led to the instruction given to the teachers by the Nigeria Union of Teachers that all teachers should stay away from school because of the threat to their lives.

It was further learnt that the Osun State Ministry of Education had also closed down the school to prevent any death.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, when contacted declined to make any comment on the crisis.

He said, ” This is a subject I don’t want to talk about. Maybe you can see the deputy governor and ask her your questions.”

However, the NUT chairman, Mr. Amudah Wakeel, when contacted said the crisis was so serious, adding that some of the teachers were lucky to have escaped being shot dead by the rampaging cultists.

Wakeel said, ” Some cultists among the students invaded the school. They wanted to kill some of the teachers. They took dane guns to the school but our members were fortunate.

“A member of ‘OYES’ cadet was injured with an axe by the students but he survived. The police were deployed to prevent the situation from leading to loss of lives. We have instructed our members to stay away from the school because of the threat to their lives.

“The union has the power to instruct members not to go to school if their lives were threatened and this is exactly what happened. The teachers stopped going to school and the government has closed down the school.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, when contacted told our corespondent that seven suspects were arrested in connection with the crisis.

It will be recalled that a teacher at the Oosgbo High School was injured with an axe following the bloody clash between students of the school and students of Government Technical College, Osogbo, in 2014.