Osun pupils chase teachers with guns

Osun State Governor, Aregbesola

Some pupils suspected to be cultists on Wednesday invaded the premises of the Anglican High School and Adenle Middle School in Osogbo, Osun State, chasing their teachers with guns.

The invasion forced other pupils and members of the staff to flee from the premises.

Though the cause of the attack was not clear as of 9pm press time, our correspondent gathered on Thursday that the attacking pupils took the action to stop the staff from conducting an examination that would enable them to enjoy the state government-sponsored free WAEC registration.

However, another source told our correspondent that a pupil identified as Toib and his gang first invaded the school last Friday to attack a member of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme who they had isssues with.

Toib and his gang allegedly stormed the premises with dane guns.

Meanwhile, the development has prompted the Nigeria Union of Teachers to direct all its members to steer clear from the attacked institutions.

It was also learnt that the state Ministry of Education had closed down the schools to prevent loss of lives.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, 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, frowned on the attack. He added that some of the teachers were lucky to have escaped being killed by the cultists.

Wakeel said, “Some cultists among the pupils invaded the school premises. They wanted to kill some of the teachers. They took dane guns to the place but our members were fortunate to escape from the attackers.

“The police have been deployed in the school 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 its members not to go to school if their lives were threatened and this is exactly what has happened.”

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

A teacher at the Osogbo High School was injured with an axe following the bloody clash between pupils of the school and their Government Technical College, Osogbo counterparts in 2014.