Afenifere: Oromoni’s Death, Unwarranted Violence in Schools, Sign of Govt Failure

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday described the killing of Master Sylvester Oromoni and the rampage at a secondary school in Edo State, among other negative occurrences in recent time as signs of how governments in Nigeria had failed the people.

This is just as the group in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, expressed condolence to the Oromonis and parents of students who were crushed to death in a recent vehicular accident in Lagos.

Ajayi said the manner in which adolescents die in Nigeria and the increasing banditry among children in schools were clear indications that the country’s present had not only been jeopardised, but that its future had also been imperiled.

Afenifere then laid the blame of this unsavoury verdict on the leadership, which it stated had demonstrated lack of focus in various aspects of governance.

According to him, “In this respect, both the federal and the state governments are culpable. We have not mentioned the local governments because the state governments have totally emasculated that tier of governance in flagrant violation of the Constitution and democratic ethos which those running governments at federal and states sworn to protect.”

Oromoni, a Junior Secondary School student of Dowen College, Lekki in Lagos State, died at the end of November, as a result of the injuries he sustained when his colleagues in the same school allegedly bullied him for refusing to join their cult group.

Last week Friday, students of Idogbo Secondary School in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo state went on rampage because they did not want to sit for the first term examination.
They attacked the policemen who were called in by the school authority, beat teachers and set school properties on fire.

On December 4, 2021, a Senior Secondary School student identified as Michael Ogbeise, was reported to have beaten his teacher, Ezeugo Joseph, to death in Abraka, Delta State for flogging his younger sister, Promise.

He said cases such as students of Idogbo Secondary School in Ikpoba-Okha local government area of Edo State allegedly going on rampage because they did not want to sit for the first term examination are now very rampart in the country, stating that these in addition to the banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and terrorism occurring in different parts on Nigeria had made the country one of the riskiest to live in across the globe.

The Afenifere spokesman added that the collapse of discipline and orderliness in our schools is reflective of the collapse of these virtues in the larger society, noting that until very recently every adult in the society was respected by the young ones while teachers were revered very highly.

“No student would think of ambushing a teacher not to talk of having the temerity to attack teachers in the school as happened in the Edo and Delta States cases. But they now do such with impunity having observed the adults behaving unruly in the open society.
These incidents speak of how those governing the country have failed woefully and how our moral values have been debased.

“Youngsters and students took to cultism and banditry after taking drugs that government agencies failed to prevent them from having access to. These young ones also delve into this immoral acts having observed same in the adults.Gone were the days when those in position of leadership were epitome of good conduct and commitment to established procedures”, he said.

Ajayi stated that the incidents leading to the loss of lives of students and unruliness in schools should be an opportunity for more commitment by government and other stakeholders to sanitize our education system, bring back the inspection officials, allow more democratic practices in terms of greater involvement of communities in the running of schools and above all show personal discipline by following laid-down procedures and obeying the rule of law faithfully.

He further maintained that state governments should remove their stranglehold on local governments so that the third tier can along with the communities they serve pay more attention to the educational institutions in their respective areas, stating that parents and guardians too should be more alive to their responsibility as their failure at home is reflecting on undisciplined behavior of their children.