•My daughter was suspended by school authorities
•Why we suspended student —Chrisland
•Lagos govt shuts down schools
•As NAPTAN, NUT call for probe
•We’ve commenced investigations —CP Alabi
A woman has claimed that her 10-year-old daughter was raped during a trip to Dubai, which was organised by Chrisland Schools.
Pupils from the private school, located in Victoria Garden City, were in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, to participate in the World Schools Games between March 10 and 13, 2022.
Chrisland Schools was in the public eye in October 2021, after Nollywood actress, Mercy Johnson, claimed that her 8-year-old daughter was bullied by her teacher.
Also, three years ago, a supervisor at Chrisland Schools, Victoria Island, Lagos, Adegboyega Adenekan, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for defiling a 2-year-old child.
Justice Sybil Nwaka of an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court handed down the sentence, convicting Adenekan on a count charge of defilement.
She held that evidence before the court showed that the supervisor was guilty as charged. Adenekan was a supervisor at the Chrisland Schools, Victoria Garden City, Lagos State.
Seven witnesses, including the pupil and her mother, testified for the prosecution, which closed its case on March 14, 2019.
School trying to cover up incident —Mother
In a viral video shared by a music executive, Ubi Franklin, via his Instagram page, yesterday, the woman also claimed that footage of the incident has been shared multiple times on social media.
She said she was not aware of what transpired in Dubai, till another parent showed her the video of the incident.
The woman also accused the school of trying to cover up the case and demanded justice.
She said: “As I was beating my daughter, she opened up to me and said the school threatened her not to speak out. My daughter was dying in silence and I did not know.
Every day, I’ll be forcing her out of the room but she wouldn’t want to go to school.
“I’m begging Nigerians to help me because Chrisland attempted to hide the issue; they wanted to push us out of the way and my daughter was going psychologically insane. I need help as a mother. My daughter is not okay.
“They took her for pregnancy tests without my knowledge, and lied to us that it was a COVID-19 test. They did the tests almost three times. Please do they require blood or urine for the COVID-19 test? I did not know until the whole issue became public.”
My daughter was suspended by school authorities
The woman said her daughter was suspended from school after they called the management to ask questions about the incident.
Continuing, she said: “To crown it all, because we started confronting them that we are aware of what has happened, they sent her a suspension letter,” she added.
“When I asked her what happened, my daughter said on the day of the incident they went out in the morning to have breakfast and one of the boys begged her to borrow him her phone charger which she did.
“She said later in the evening, the boy called her and asked her to come for the charger in his room. So, she went there.
“When she got to the room to get the charger, they opened the door and one of the boys asked her to go and get her charger inside the toilet. She said it was when she entered the toilet that the boys surrounded her and asked her to drink a substance.
“She said they were all under the influence of drugs after that and she did not know what she was doing again. My daughter said the boys asked her to climb on them while one of them was filming and sending out the videos.”
Why we suspended student —School
The school has since suspended the student for what it described as an immoral act
But the letter of suspension dated April 14, 2022, was signed by the Head Teacher, G. I. Azike.
The letter, titled: ‘Indefinite suspension of …(the female student)’, reads: “It was discovered that your daughter was involved in improper behaviour during the recently concluded World School Games in Dubai with a few of her counterparts. She willfully participated in a game they called truth or dare, a game which led her and a few other co-learners to carry out an immoral act after the lights-out instruction was given.
“In line with our core values centred on discipline, Chrisland Schools have zero tolerance for any improper behaviour and misconduct. A full-scale investigation has been done and the parents of all the culpable learners have been duly notified of the necessary punishment meted out on the learners.