Suspended JSS1 student drags Ekiti Govt., School

By Steve Adedamola

Suspended JSS1 student drags Ekiti Govt., School principal, others to court, demands ₦15m as damage A junior Secondary School 1 student of Mary Immaculate Secondary, Ado-Ekiti,Miss Gift Agenoisa has dragged the Ekiti State government, her school principal and others to court over indefinite suspension from the School. 

 Newsfrontier learnt that the student who approached the court to challenge her suspension from the school is also demanding ₦15 million as damages for alleged breach of her rights. It was gathered that Gift was suspended from school by the government after her parents allegedly beat up some teachers for punishing her for indecent dressing and gross indiscipline.

 Elijah Agenoisa, the plaintiff’s father, who is a Police Sergeant, had on May 22 allegedly mobilised four armed policemen to the school to assault some teachers for scolding his daughter for coming to school with an indecent hairstyle, said to be against the school rules and regulations. 

 Consequently, the school suspended his daughter and the Ekiti State Police Command allegedly queried the policeman for his action, but it is not clear if he was punished by the police authorities. In her suit, numbered HAD/01/CR/2021, sworn to at the Ado Ekiti High Court, filed on her behalf by Mrs Odunayo Agenoisa, Gift stated that the suspension infringed on her rights to sound and quality education.

 Joined in the suit are the School Principal, Mrs F. M. Oluwasanmi (first respondent), Ekiti State Commissioner for Education, Dr Olabimpe Aderiye (second respondent); Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission (third respondent); and Ekiti State Government (fourth respondent). 

In the affidavit attached to the originating summons, the plaintiff claimed she was singled out of assembly on May 22, 2021, and given 20 strokes of the cane as directed by the school principal, Oluwansanmi, for her alleged indecent hairstyle.

 She described the alleged treatment meted out to her for coming to school with the alleged indecent hairstyle as inhuman and cruel.

 In her originating summons deposed to by her counsel, Mr Timmy Omotoso, and brought pursuant to Order 2 rules 1,3,4,5 and 6 of the fundamental rights enforcement procedure, rules 2009 as preserved by Section 315 of the 1999 constitution, the applicant demanded N15 million damages for her suspension. 

 She also demanded her immediate reinstatement to the school with unfettered access to all services being rendered therein. 

 The plaintiff claimed that the beating she got gave her bruises, life-threatening scars and bloodstains on her uniform, adding that she fainted and was rushed to the police clinic in Ado-Ekiti, where she was resuscitated. 

 She also stated that her letters of protest to the wife of the Ekiti State Governor and some relevant Government Agencies were ignored, hence her decision to seek legal redress. 

 The plaintiff added that she has been denied access to the school premises and her class on the order of the principal since then. Justice Lekan Ogunmoye of the Ekiti State High Court has adjourned the case to September 22,2021 for hearing.