Police probe Abuja school over viral footage depicting bullying

The FCT police say they are probing an alleged bullying involving a student of Beautiful Beginning Academy Abuja.

The alleged victim, identified only as  Imitiyas and said to be in SS2, was depicted as being subdued.

The video showed the senior final-year students ordering Imitiyas, who had his neck strung up with a chain, to lie on the floor.

Since going viral on social media, the footage has generated outrage and calls for a police investigation.

TheCable contacted Josephine Adeh, FCT police spokesperson, but she had yet to respond as of this report.

Adeh, who disclosed that the school is already being probed, told BBC that none of the family members of the alleged victim reported the matter to the police.

The school Principal Aaron Ipke, while addressing the press in Abuja on Tuesday, was quoted as hedging that the students involved were engaged in an act of “playful performance” misinterpreted as evidence of bullying.

He argued that the school has had an open-door policy that allows students to report any harassment concerns.

Ikpe claimed the students arranged for the clip to be recorded on a device provided by the school while other students in the hostel watched the performance.

“There was no bullying case here at BBA. It was a make-believe. We were in school at the time. And the way we run our school, we operate an open-door policy,” he was quoted as saying.

“Students, even from the nursery, come to the MD’s office, to the principal’s office, to express any concerns they might have. We don’t have that kind of bureaucracy. So, if there was any bullying at all, at least one student would have heard about it and reported it to us.

“It wasn’t a case of bullying. They staged a play. Interestingly, they did it in their hostel, and there were other students around watching.”

Ipke was further quoted as expressing shock at the allegation of bullying made by family members of the SS2 student.

He said the school had never recorded a case of bullying in its 14 years of existence.

“No such report was made until the sisters came on Monday to tell us there was a bullying case in the school. In 14 years of existence, we’ve never had a situation like this or a case of this nature,” the principal said.