Bullying: Police probe Edo school mgt after students’ expulsion

The Edo State Police Command has summoned the management of Igbinedion Education Centre, Benin City, to hand over the students involved in the bullying and assault of their schoolmate for investigation and possible prosecution.

This is as the state government vowed to sanction anyone found culpable in the act.

In a viral video circulating on X on Friday, two male students of the school were captured beating and kicking another student lying on the ground.

One of the students was seen dragging the boy by his suit and stomping on his chest, leaving him crying in pain as a third student, who was recording the incident, pleaded on his behalf.

The video sparked public outrage, forcing the school management to expel the two students, while the student who recorded the incident on videowas suspended.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, Eno Ikoedem, said the police had already extended their probe to the school and met with its management on Friday.

According to the PPRO, the Commissioner of Police in the state assigned the case to an investigation team, which subsequently visited the school, where officials informed them that the students involved had already been expelled.

Ikoedem explained that the police had officially invited the school management to assist in identifying and producing the students involved in the bullying incident.

She also said the police could not continue to wait for the victim’s parents to lodge a formal complaint, adding that the expulsion of the students was not enough and that the law had to take its course in line with their ages.

“We are inviting the school authority to hand over the students, particularly those involved in the bullying act, to the authorities. We don’t know these students, even the victim himself; we don’t know him. That is why we are calling on the victim to come forward; if the victim can come to us, he should be able to identify them.

“We went to the school, and the management said they had already expelled them, and you know, we can’t just go to the school and effect an arrest. There are procedures that should be followed, and that is what we are trying to follow.

“If at the end of the day they (school management) cannot provide the students for us to take proper action, or the victim refuses to come forward to us or does not trust us enough, then maybe another institution can take action against the school. There are other bodies that are responsible for these things; we can only take charge of the criminal aspect, which is the bullying, the injustice meted out on that boy. No matter what his offence was, he did not deserve that.

“The best the school can do is to cooperate with us to help our investigation. They should release these students to us. Let us know who they are because the truth is, even if you expel them now, they will still cause a menace in society.

“It is not just about expelling them; they must be investigated and punished if found guilty. That is the only way the victim can get justice and serve as a deterrent to other bullies. It is not about expelling them; let them tell us who those students are. They know them; we don’t,” she said.

Ikoedem added, “An investigation is currently going on into the issue, and sooner or later, we will get the students who perpetrated the act.

“We are not sitting back simply because they were expelled; we will get those guys, and they will be dealt with in accordance with their age as provided by the law.”

The PPRO added that the police had yet to hear from the victim or his family, noting that no formal complaint had been lodged with the command despite the video circulating online.

“Up until this moment, we have not heard from the parents or the guardian of the victim or even the victim. We are yet to receive a complaint from either the bullied child or his parents,” she said.

She urged the victim and his family to come forward to aid the investigation.

“We are encouraging the parents and even the child to come out and make a formal complaint to the police to help us in our investigations,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Edo State Ministry of Education has set up a five-man investigative committee to probe the incident.

The committee, according to a statement on Saturday by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Edith Ebomoyi, was mandated to urgently unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident and identify all students found culpable.(Punch)