Tempers flayed and anger rent the air in Kofar Gayan area of Zaria, Kaduna State, when news of the painful death of a teenage student of Al-Azhar Academy filtered in. Marwanu Nuhu Sambo, a JSS3 student of the school, died Friday, 20 October 2023, allegedly after being brutally beaten by the Principal, Vice Principal and prefects of Al-Azhar Academy.
It was gathered that the Principal and his Vice paraded Sambo in front of the Assembly for missing classes. He was there and then subjected to merciless punishments including over a hundred strokes of the cane.
Quoting one of the the boy’s classmates, “At the assembly, the Principal ordered that Marwanu should be given 105 strokes of cane. Thereafter, they took him to the office, removed his clothes and trousers and continued beating him with sticks on the head and back and his body”.
“The Principal later handed him over to the school prefects who continued beating him with sticks until one of his teeth fell off. It was at that point that the deceased went into coma.
“But instead of rushing him to the hospital, the prefects brought him out and dumped his body in the school premises near the male toilets until the closing time.
“Cries from other students in the school who watched in tripedation reportedly attracted other teachers who rushed to the scene where they found out that the boy has given up the ghost”.
“The school management quickly rushed him to a private hospital in an attempt to cover up the incident.
It was also alleged that the Management of the school also did not inform the parents of the student until rumors got to them that their child was brutally beaten in school and had been rushed to the hospital.
On their arrival to the hospital, the parents were told by the doctor that the child had already died before he was brought in. The Doctor confirmed that the boy sustained several injuries from the cruel and savage punishment by the management of the school that led to his death.
It has been almost 24 hours since the incident happened but no security agency had made any arrest or visited the families of the deceased. The school authority has also kept mum as if nothing happened.
It is hoped that the Government of Kaduna State, Nigerian Police Force, National Human Right Commission and other relevant Security Agencies will thoroughly investigate this matter with a view to unravelling the circumstances that led to the unfortunate death of the teenager and to serve justice to whoever is culpable in his death. This will serve as a deterrent to wicked teachers who vent their anger on innocent pupils put in their care.
