In a viral video which surfaced online, students of Idogbo Secondary School, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, went haywire, setting a section of the school ablaze, just as they vandalised the principal’s office.
They were said to have also harassed a policeman on duty in the school while the students were writing exams.
The students were seen chasing a man believed to be the principal, who outran them.
In anger, the rampaging students returned to the school premises and destroyed the principal’s office.
It was gathered that the incident happened last Friday and that the students resorted to violence, when one of them had an altercation with one of the policemen drafted to the school to maintain law and order and in the process, overpowered the policeman, who was stripped by the irate students.
A source in the school, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the school management invited security personnel in anticipation of security breaches in the school as it had become a regular occurrence, especially during festive and examination seasons.
He said: “Days before the exams started, we were battling with students throwing bangers and other explosives in the compound.
“So, when the exams started on December 3, 2021, we invited some policemen and vigilante members in case of any eventuality. So, because we anticipated that there could be a disturbance, the first set of policemen came while we waited for other police officers.
“One of the policemen on duty was moving around the school compound, what happened is what some of us don’t know. But we saw that the students were chasing the policeman, so some of his colleagues came to rescue him, that was when the students started throwing stones and other weapons.
“When it became uncontrollable, teachers started running for their lives, then the students went on a rampage, destroying everything on sight. The police were called from the Police Command, but they could not control them.
“It was when they invited the DSS operatives that they used gunshots to scare them away. Later the DSS personnel arrested about 45 of the students who were hiding in the bush. They are now at the police command.”
The Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Bello Kontongs, said: “49 students were in custody “for willful damage of government property. Non has been changed to court yet.”
