Ogun student’s demise and the antics of a social media opportunist

BY FUNMI BRANCO

It is really impossible for anyone to hear the story of the alleged beating to death of a secondary school student in Ogun state without feeling outraged. The story is heartbreaking, particularly as the said student, Monday Arijo, an SS2 student of the said school, Obada Grammar School, Obada, Idi-Emi, was allegedly beaten to stupor or subjected to excessive physical rigour. The details are still sketchy and the story far from definitive, and investigations by the police will determine precisely what happened.

However, distressing as the story is, it is disturbing to find that the social media hounds who often latch onto tragic events in the country to make a name for themselves are already at work, hatching conspiracy stories and seeking to throw Ogun into utter chaos. One of these individuals, who goes by the name Adetoun on Instagram, has sought to derail this case by making spurious allegations against the person and office of the Governor of Ogun state, and it is time the security agencies invited her for questioning.

In a series of social media posts, the said Adetoun has heaped imprecations and curses on Governor Dapo Abiodun, asking why the Ogun state government permitted the death of a student. In the said videos, Adetoun directs expletives on the governor and his family while praising the Ogun First Lady, claiming that the Ogun state government tried to kill the story of the student’s murder and silence his family with a N500,000 gift. It is utterly disturbing that this individual has treated the pains and agonies of the family with utter contempt in a bizarre attempt to reap social media mileage from the tragic story of a minor.

The fact is that following the incident, the Ogun state government took every step necessary to guarantee justice in the case. Being bound by the laws of the land, Governor Dapo Abiodun did not order the lynching of the suspected teacher and principal, as Adetoun and her promoters may have hoped. Social media allegations, however weighty, must be subjected to the provisions of the law. Certainly, a governor who would organise the lynching of a suspect based on a blogger’s allegations would have created a parallel state.

Following the incident, the Ogun government ordered the suspension and arrest of the teacher in question. It also issued a query to the principal of the school, Tamrat Onaolapo, for allowing corporal punishment to be used on the pupil against the established regulations in the state, and placed her on suspension. Thereafter, it shut down the school and set up a panel to investigate the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident, promising that anyone indicted would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

The Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta, was mandated to conduct a post-mortem on the deceased to determine the cause of his death. That was not all: representatives of the ministry of education, science and technology also visited the bereaved family to offer condolences and obtain first-hand accounts of the incident for a thorough investigation. The team comprised the director, secondary and higher education department in the ministry, the principals general, Egba and Yewa Divisions; the zonal education officer, Imeko Afon, representatives of ANCOPPS, Ogun state president, Trade Union Congress and the Ogun state chairman of ASSUS. The officials assured the family that a thorough investigation would be launched to determine the facts surrounding the incident and that accountability would be pursued. They also gave the sum of N500,000 to the family to defray burial expenses. The officials were well received by the family.

That was not all. In light of the severity of the case, the Ogun government actually sent a second delegation to the victim’s family. The delegation was led by the commissioner for education, science and technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu. The commissioner assured the parents of the deceased that the state government would continue to monitor and hand out sanctions to teachers found administering corporal punishment to students. He told the family: “There are regulations against corporal punishment. That does not mean children will not behave well; we can actually discipline children. We can raise them to become whatever they want to be in life without resorting to corporal punishment.”

Speaking on behalf of the family, Abdullateef Oduntan noted that the family was not interested in any legal battle but expected the government to do everything within its power to ensure that such an incident did not recur anywhere within the state. In her remarks, the special adviser on education to the Ogun governor, Ronke Soyombo, promised that the state government would continue to support the family during and after the mourning period, and ensure that such incidents did not recur anywhere in the state.

Adetoun and her sponsors will have their five minutes of fame but Governor Dapo Abiodun will keep fighting for justice in the case. His job is not on Instagram. As a parent who lost a dear son, he knows the pain Monday Ariyo’s parents and family are going through. It is despicable that a criminal seeking social media leverage is cashing in on the tragedy to accumulate a following and the consequent financial rewards. It is beyond vile; it is utterly demonic.

The world over, people break the law. To say that the Ogun governor allowed a student to die is to say that he has supernatural powers to prevent people from committing crimes. He has no such powers. He can only act on the cases brought to his attention and in this case, he has taken every step prescribed by law. And inasmuch as no one is making a case for the accused teacher and principal, the laws of the land allow them to state their own side of the story as they go through the process of prosecution. They cannot be lynched.

Ogun is known for excellence, but that does not mean that it is immune to tragic events like the present case. When things like this happen, what the government needs to do is take steps to prevent future cases, and that is precisely what the Ogun government has done. The government is not defending the suspects in this case. It set up an investigative committee, cognizant of the fact that the whole world is watching events, as it were. At the same time, it is being extremely careful not to create an atmosphere in which teachers would be too scared to caution pupils or students.

Conscienceless individuals raising a social media mob are a clog in the wheel of justice, and Adetoun and her ill must be cautioned before they breed chaos.

Branco is of the sociology department, University of Lagos, Akoka