By Gabriel Dike
A Biology teacher with the Army Secondary School, Epe, Lagos, was on Monday shot dead by unknown gunmen.
While the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) said he was killed by unknown gunmen. His colleagues in the school alleged he was shot dead by a student he had earlier flogged.
The Tutor General/Permanent Secretary, District 111, Dr. Yinka Ayandele, and chairman of the NUT Lagos State Council, Mr. Akintoye Hassan, said the incident happened outside the school compound and investigations are ongoing.
Hassan, who visited the school and the family of the teacher, said his member was shot dead by unknown gunmen and not by a student as being insinuated, adding “I addressed the teachers and students, nobody mentioned any name of a student.”
His words: “No student was flogged by the teacher. I did investigation, no evidence or student was identified that was flogged by the late teacher.
“Some people called him on phone while in school to meet them at his shop. As soon as he got there, he was attacked. Several bullets were removed from his body. They actually wanted him dead. They also hit him on the head. He was buried yesterday.”
Hassan described Monday as sad and dark day for Nigerian teachers. The NUT chairman expect ongoing investigation will unravel the killers.
The tutor general, who confirmed the incident denied the involvement of any student in the killing of the Biology teacher, stating “our students are well behaved, you can hardly find them on the street during school hours. No teacher or student could mention the name of any student flogged.”
“I was in the school yesterday and the students were crying about his death. He was shot dead outside the school compound. The gunmen shot several bullets into his loins.
“Twenty four hours after the incident, nobody has been arrested. Such a thing happened and no suspect has been picked up. Everybody must be protected. We should be particular about safety of Nigerians, ” she stated.
She said the district expect the students to continue with their good behaviour and also good performance in public examination, noting “last year, district 111 had the best results in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Lagos State.”
Dr. Ayandele said investigations are ongoing but wondered why no arrest has been made in the last 24 hours after the killing of the teacher.
Some teachers insisted those who killed their colleagues were on a mission because they did not wear mask and pumped many bullets into his body until he was dead.