Wednesday, 20 April 2022

Chrisland Schools in the eye of the Storm

 Yemi Olakitan



Chrisland School is once again in the news for the wrong reason. How can a citadel of academy learning, known for the high educational attainment of its students continue to fall in the mud of sexual scandal? Only three years ago, Adegboyega Adenekan, a supervisor at Chrisland School, Victoria Island, Lagos, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for defiling a 2-year-old child.

Now in the news, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered the shutdown of all branches of Chrisland Schools in Lagos following a viral sex tape showing a 10-year-old schoolgirl having sex with her schoolmates while in Dubai for a school competition.

The girl was alleged to have had sex with five boys. This is just as Nigeria Police said it might engage Interpol in their investigation of the case and also probe the alleged pregnancy tests conducted on the schoolgirl without parental consent.



 In a statement the Sanwo-Olu government announced the complete closure of the schools. “In the meantime, all Chrisland schools within Lagos State are hereby closed, pending further investigations,” the statement said.

 “The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to the alleged sexual violence case involving students of Chrisland school, which occurred in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,” stated the government. “It is pertinent to note that all allegations are being investigated by the relevant ministries, departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Education, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Ministry of Justice and the Lagos State Domestic & Sexual Violence Agency, whilst the criminal allegations have been escalated to the commissioner of police.”

It added that the Sanwo-Olu administration was committed to ensuring the safety and protection of children in Lagos, especially ensuring “that all child-centred institutions within Lagos.

The Lagos government also stressed that it would continue to “formulate and implement policies and systems that are compliant with the Executive Order (NO.EO/AA08 of 2016), Lagos State Safeguarding and Child Protection Programme.”

It, however, warned people sharing the sex tape to desist or face the consequences.

“We also use this medium to remind the general public that any person who engages in any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child commits an offence and is liable to a custodial sentence of 14 years,” Sanwo-Olu’s government warned. It stressed that it “includes producing, distributing, receiving, or possessing an image of child pornography.”

The statement was jointly signed by the Ministry of Education, Office of Education Quality Assurance, the Ministry of Youth and Social Development and the Ministry of Justice.

Also, in a statement on Monday, the police disclosed that Interpol might be involved in investigating a viral sex tape involving a 10-year-old female pupil of Chrisland Schools while on a school-organised trip for competition in Dubai, the Lagos police command has revealed.

“The command is equally taking cognisance of the cybercrime angle to the whole episode and will not hesitate to enlist the support of the Interpol should the need arises,” explained the police command in Lagos. “For a holistic and unbiased investigation, the command shall be working with relevant ministries, departments, agencies, and non-governmental organisations.”

This followed allegations by the unnamed schoolgirl’s mother in a video accusing Chrisland Schools of threatening to “kill” her daughter if she spoke out about engaging in sex acts with her schoolmates. The police spokesman in Lagos, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, stated that the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Abiodun Alabi, ordered the investigation.

A video of the 10-year-old schoolgirl, allegedly raped by five male pupils of Chrisland Schools during a trip to Dubai, UAE, went viral recently. The sex acts reportedly happened when the students travelled to Dubai to participate in the World School Games from March 10 to 13, where the school won over 30 medals.

Hundeyin quoted the police commissioner as saying that the investigation would involve individuals in the recording of the sex tape, the true incident in the video, and the geographical location of the sex acts.

The investigation will also cover the alleged threat to life against the 10-year-old pupil and the circumstances surrounding the alleged repeated pregnancy tests conducted on the student without her parental consent.

 “The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to an alleged rape video purportedly depicting students of Chrisland School, Lagos, going viral on social media,” said the police. The statement added, “Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi, fdc, mnim, psc has assured that due diligence will be observed to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice.”

Stakeholders Disagree with Lagos State Government on the Closure of Chrisland Schools



Meanwhile, Many stakeholders in the education sector have faulted the closure of all campuses of the Chrisland Schools by the Lagos State Government, saying dealing with the identified errant students would have been more appropriate.

This is also as they have faulted the series of tests reportedly carried out on the female student at the centre of the crisis. A legal practitioner, Mrs. Helen Essien, wondered why the government would shut down a whole school because of the misdemeanor of a few students.

“Why did government shut down a whole school because three or four children misbehaved? Doesn’t Chrisland have school discipline policy and procedures? Why punish innocent pupils?”

What the Mother Said……




The mother claimed that her 10-year-old daughter was raped during the trip to Dubai, which was organised by Chrisland Schools.

Pupils from the private school, located in Victoria Garden City, were in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, to participate in the World Schools Games between March 10 and 13, 2022.

In a viral video shared by a music executive, Ubi Franklin, via his Instagram page, yesterday, the woman claimed that footage of the incident has been shared multiple times on social media. She said she was not aware of what transpired in Dubai, till another parent showed her the video of the incident.

The woman also accused the school of trying to cover up the case and demanded justice.

She said: “As I was beating my daughter, she opened up to me and said the school threatened her not to speak out. My daughter was dying in silence and I did not know.

Every day, I’ll be forcing her out of the room but she wouldn’t want to go to school.

“I’m begging Nigerians to help me because Chrisland attempted to hide the issue; they wanted to push us out of the way and my daughter was going psychologically insane. I need help as a mother. My daughter is not okay.

“They took her for pregnancy tests without my knowledge, and lied to us that it was a COVID-19 test. They did the tests almost three times. Please do they require blood or urine for the COVID-19 test? I did not know until the whole issue became public.”

The woman said her daughter was suspended from school after they called the management to ask questions about the incident. Continuing, she said: “To crown it all, because we started confronting them that we are aware of what has happened, they sent her a suspension letter,” she added.

“When I asked her what happened, my daughter said on the day of the incident they went out in the morning to have breakfast and one of the boys begged her to borrow him her phone charger which she did.

“She said later in the evening, the boy called her and asked her to come for the charger in his room. So, she went there.

“When she got to the room to get the charger, they opened the door and one of the boys asked her to go and get her charger inside the toilet. She said it was when she entered the toilet that the boys surrounded her and asked her to drink a substance.

“She said they were all under the influence of drugs after that and she did not know what she was doing again. My daughter said the boys asked her to climb on them while one of them was filming and sending out the videos.”

What the School said….

The school has since suspended the student for what it described as an immoral act

But the letter of suspension dated April 14, 2022, was signed by the Head Teacher, G. I. Azike.

The letter, titled: ‘Indefinite suspension of …(the female student)’, reads: “It was discovered that your daughter was involved in improper behaviour during the recently concluded World School Games in Dubai with a few of her counterparts. She willfully participated in a game they called truth or dare, a game which led her and a few other co-learners to carry out an immoral act after the lights-out instruction was given.

‘‘In line with our core values centred on discipline, Chrisland Schools have zero tolerance for any improper behaviour and misconduct. A full-scale investigation has been done and the parents of all the culpable learners have been duly notified of the necessary punishment meted out on the learners.

“The parents gave their full cooperation, realising the need to work with the school so that the learners can be corrected and be of expected proper behaviour, henceforth. However, in the course of the school’s efforts to see how best we can help…who was a major participant in the whole incident, every effort to inform you as her parents about the incident and ensure that this improper behaviour is permanently corrected, has proved to be futile.’’

“We cannot, as a school, condone such. Consequently, (the student) is, hereby, placed on an indefinite suspension until you as the parents ensure that she is punished, adequately counselled and rehabilitated.”

What is in the video?

Yemi Olakitan Blog will not watch child pornography, seek the video out or encourage the sharing of child pornography for any reason. It is immoral, sickening and illegal.  

On social media, those who saw the video said the 10-year-old kid was very active in the sex acts and that the recorded sex acts were far from a rape incident as alleged by the mother,

However, we do not agree with the closure of all branches of Chrisland Schools in Lagos!! Chrisland School has at least 7 branches. Only one branch, the Victoria Garden City branch is involved in the sex scandal. Why close seven schools for the alleged sin of one?

Furthermore, what is the offence of the school when individuals within it misbehaved? One will think that it is the individuals that should be punished and not the school. 

Reports say, the said 10year old girl from Chrisland School has a handle page called BhadGurl4k (Bad Girl Fuck) and has over 24,000 likes on Likee.

She has posted over 526 videos with  over 4,000 followers.

It seems that the problem is from the home. 


 

 

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