Nigeria Police Force in Akwa Ibom is set to arraign Deeper Life school officials over alleged bullying and sexual abuse of a minor, Premium Times reported on Wednesday.
According to PremiumTimes, David Okokon, lawyer to the parents of the abused 11-year-old student of the school said he would be in court today for the arraignment.
“They (the police) are arraigning those people found culpable, this morning,” Okokon said.
Trouble began when the victim’s mother, Deborah Archibong, alleged that some senior students of the Deeper Life High School sexually abused her son when the school authorities switched him from his dormitory to another dormitory filled with senior students.
“They will remove his boxer and push their legs and hands into his anus,” Archibong said in a video posted on Facebook.
“Look at a child I sent to school, he came back with a broken anus,” she said, adding that her son was frequently starved and beaten up by the senior students.
“We will like to state that Deeper Life High School stands on the core values of integrity and uprightness and will not attempt to cover up any immoral act under any guise,” Thelma Malaka, the school’s education secretary, who spoke through a video uploaded on Twitter, said of the sexual abuse allegation.
“We have unflinching confidence in our God to resolve the issue such that at the end the truth will ultimately prevail,” she said.
The school said it has suspended the school’s principal.
Also, the state police authorities have since invited some of the school officials for questioning while some were detained.
The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko MacDon told PREMIUM TIMES that the police were preparing to arraign “those found culpable.”
MacDon, a superintendent of police, also confirmed the arrest and detention of some of the school officials.
“This morning, we are trying to tidy up (investigation), we are dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s,” Mr MacDon said. “If we are not through this morning, they will be arraigned tomorrow.”
Okokon said the family is demanding a fee of N100M damages from the school within 21 days for medical treatment and other expenses for the victim.
Okokon further stated that failure to pay within the stipulated time would make the school liable to pay N1.5bn as damages.
