IMO: Soldiers frogmarch15-yr-old pupil to early grave for lateness

ripplesnigeria.com

Feb 22, 2018 8:49 AM

A day after the Deputy Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar-Gummi revealed that a yet-to-be-named teacher allegedly flogged a student of Government Day Secondary School Sankalawa to death for unconfirmed reasons another similar incident has been recorded, this time in Owerri, Imo State.

Reports say two soldiers allegedly frogmarched a student identified as Queendaline Ekezie,15, of Army Day Secondary School, Obinze, to her early death for coming late to school.

The Junior Secondary School 3 student was forced to engage in a rigorous routine as punishment for coming late but later collapsed after she became exhausted from repeating the exercise several times.

Queendaline was reportedly rushed to an army hospital where she was confirmed dead and the shocking news also landed her father Hyginus, in a nearby community hospital after he passed out over his daughters demise.

According to a friend of the deceased, Delight Aguocha, a JSS 2 pupil, who witnessed the incident, her friend passed away because of the intensity of the punishment dished out to her by the soldiers.

Delight 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.”

Delight revealed that her friend could no longer walk after the punishment by the soldiers and her condition got out of hand as she was later rushed to the army hospital in the principal’s car where she was put on a drip.

Delight said; “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.”

However, Immaculate, the victim’s sister, said lack of adequate medical care also contributed to the death of her sister.

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.”

Reacting to the incident, Col. Sagir Musa, the 82 Division’s spokesman and Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, said the Imo State Ministry of Education had planned to issue a statement over the incident and it would be premature for him to comment on the matter.