The pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has described the killing of Sylvester Oromoni and the rampage at a secondary school in Edo State as yet the latest signs of how governments in Nigeria have failed the people.
In a media statement, Thursday, signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the body, Jare Ajayi, the foremost Yoruba organization expressed its heartfelt condolence to the Oromonis and parents of students who were crushed to death in a recent vehicular accident on Ikorodu Road in Lagos when a driver ran into them as he tried to escape arrest by officers of the Lagos State Road Maintenance Agency.
The statement further stated that the manner in which adolescents die in Nigeria and the increasing banditry among children in schools are clear indications that the country’s present has not only been jeopardized, its future has also been imperiled.
Afenifere then laid the blame for this unsavory verdict on the present leadership in the country, adding that the administration has demonstrated a lack of focus on various aspects of governance.
Ajayi added that the incidents leading to the loss of lives of students and unruliness in schools should be an opportunity for more commitment by government and other stakeholders to sanitize our education system, bring back the inspection officials, allow more democratic practices in terms of greater involvement of communities in the running of schools and above all, show personal discipline by following laid-down procedures and obeying the rule of law faithfully.
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According to the statement, “In this respect, both the federal and the state governments are culpable. We have not mentioned the local governments because the state governments have totally emasculated that tier of governance in flagrant violation of the Constitution and democratic ethos which those running governments at federal and states sworn to protect.”
“Cases of such unruly behavior are now very rampant in the country. These are in addition to the banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, and terrorism occurring in different parts of Nigeria. Situations that have made the country one of the riskiest to live in across the globe.
Afenifere spokesman added that the collapse of discipline and orderliness in our schools is reflective of the collapse of these virtues in the larger society.”
It would be recalled that a Junior Secondary School student of Dowen College, Lekki in Lagos State, Master Sylvester Oromoni, died at the end of November as a result of the injuries he sustained when his colleagues in the same school allegedly bullied him for refusing to join their cult group. Last Friday, students of Idogbo Secondary School in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo state went on a rampage because they did not want to sit for the first term examination.
They attacked the policemen who were called in by the school authority, beat teachers, and set school properties on fire. On December 4, 2021, a Senior Secondary School student identified as Michael Ogbeise, was reported to have beaten his teacher, Ezeugo Joseph, to death in Abraka, Delta State for flogging his younger sister, promise.
