How parent, relations flogged Anambra teacher to death

Tuesday, November 28, 2017 was a day the husband of late Mrs Makachi Rita, a teacher of Starlight Secondary School, Ogidi, Idemili-North Local Government Area of Anambra State, staff and students of the school would not forget in a hurry. The deceased, the class mistress of the Senior Secondary School (SSS 1), had reported to […]

Tuesday, November 28, 2017 was a day the husband of late Mrs Makachi Rita, a teacher of Starlight Secondary School, Ogidi, Idemili-North Local Government Area of Anambra State, staff and students of the school would not forget in a hurry.

The deceased, the class mistress of the Senior Secondary School (SSS 1), had reported to school as usual with no premonition of any kind of calamity that might befall her.

Daily Trust gathered that the deceased, had on entry to the class, got irritated over the unkempt condition of the classroom and demanded who among the students was responsible for the cleaning.

She was told that one Chinaza was supposed to sweep the class before going home the previous day. When she asked student for her negligence, the girl responded in a rude way and the teacher flogged her.

According to a source, while the student was being flogged, the girl quickly ran out, scaled the school fence and went home, where she narrated her punishment to her mother.

The source said: “The mother rushed to the school carrying sticks in company of another daughter and a male relation.”

He, however, said the trio did not meet the deceased on arrival as the teacher had left for a meeting outside the school premises.

“All efforts by some of us to calm the mother and allow the school authority handle the case, proved abortive as she swore to revenge by herself,” he said.

According to the source, the deceased was later intercepted at the entrance to the school gate by the trio while on their way out and they immediately pounced on her, beating her to death.

The Divisional Police Officer, in-charge of the area, Mark Ijarafu, while confirming the incident, said that the mother, daughter and one other person have been arrested.

He also added that the corpse of the teacher have been deposited at the Iyi-Enu mortuary, while investigation was ongoing.

But in an interview with Daily Trust, the proprietress of the institution, Mrs Edna Obi gave a slightly different but more detailed version of the incidence.

She said she earlier frowned at the untidy condition of the school environment, particularly the classrooms and had requested the class teachers to sit up to their responsibilities.

She, however, explained that the student, Okafor Chinaza, was not the only one that was flogged by the deceased over her refusal to sweep the floor of the classroom.

“I had, during a meeting with the students and mistresses, frowned at the untidiness of their classrooms, stressing the need for them to ensure they were always kept neat.

“There were six of them who were on the roaster to sweep the class that day and they were supposed to do that the previous day. Apart from their inability to provide a justifiable reason why they did not sweep the class, the girl in question refused to kneel down as ordered by the teacher.

“I suppose it was her repeated stubbornness and insubordination to instructions that forced the teacher to have flogged her indiscriminately,” she said.

According to the proprietress, the girl did not rush home in course of the flogging neither did she scale through the school fence as earlier reported.

“She came and complained to me, showing me some marks on her body. I rebuked her for her stubbornness, but assured her that I would talk to the teacher. But I didn’t know she later ran home to invite the mother.

“I was surprised to see the mother, carrying a little baby, wielding a stick and fuming with rage. She came in company of her daughter and a man, who I initially thought was the husband until he was properly introduced.

“I tried to calm them down, with the promise that I would make sure that justice was done to the matter. Though the woman was a bit difficult to be controlled, but later calm down, with both of them assuring me that they would heed to my plea,” she added.

She said she was however surprised to see her late teacher returning back with marks on her body.

According to the proprietor, the teacher, after flogging the students for not sweeping the class, had left for a meeting of private schools where she was to represent the school.

“The meeting however did not hold. So she had to dash to the bank to make some transactions before returning back to the school,” she said.

Obi, however, explained that it was on her way back, just some few meters away from the school gate, that the deceased met with the woman, the man and her daughter.

“They could have bypassed my late teacher if not that the daughter pointed at her and immediately, the woman accosted her, handed over the little baby to the daughter, and started flogging her with the stick which she was still holding,” she stated.

According to her, it was the deceased shouting that attracted security guards at the building close to the scene who quickly rushed and intervened.

“She walked herself to the school and came straight to my office. She had not even started narrating her ordeal when I sensed she was already panting and becoming uncontrollable.

“I was still trying to calm her down, assuring her that she would be okay before she started fuming from her mouth and I quickly called for vehicle which we used to quickly move her to the nearby hospital where she eventually gave up,” she narrated.

She said she quickly contacted both Chinaza’s mom and the man and informed them that the teacher they flogged had been rushed to the hospital.

“As soon as the news of Rita’s death got to me, I recalled that I had collected the numbers of both the woman and the man the time they came to my office and I quickly called them one after the other, informing them that the woman they had fracas with was in the hospital.

“In a short time, both of them were at the hospital where they were immediately apprehended and handed over to the police,” she added.

Describing the incident as pathetic and unfortunate, but avoidable, the proprietress said she had learnt so many things from it, including the peril of uncontrolled aggression.

“This sad experience had thought me lots of lessons. This death could have been avoided if the people involved had controlled their temperaments. It is not good to act while angry,” she said.

She also described the death of the deceased as a great loss to the school, saying she was not only one of the pioneer members of the 20-year-old school, but a committed and hardworking teacher.

“She was one of our best hands here. She was so vast with the history of the school that if you are looking for any information about the school, you can easily go to her and you will be sure to get the details.

“She was the one representing the school in most of the meetings in the state, including the last one she attended before her demise. No doubt, she would be greatly missed,” she lamented.

A corps member in the school the student’s attitude that day actually took everybody by surprise. “I remember my secondary school days you dare not take such actions for whatever reasons. If you dare go home to report any of your teachers to your parents, they would first flog you before sending you back to the school.

“I don’t know what is happening these days? Imagine a student going to report her teacher to the mother and the mother coming to flog the teacher.

“It is really a pity because this development would now force most of the teachers to resolve not to flog their students or pupils again and you know what that means,” she added.

Daily Trust gathered that the widower, a welder, had decided not to pursue the case but to leave everything to God who he said is the ultimate judge.

Reacting, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Princess Nkeiru Nwode, said the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department for further discreet investigations.

“The matter would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded,” she said adding that the autopsy report of the deceased was being awaited.