Those who flogged 19-year-old student to death must not go scot free

Just as well that the Kaduna State Police Command has arrested the Principal and Vice Principal of Al-azhar Academy, a private secondary school in Zaria, Kaduna State, for the alleged killing of a student of the school, Marwanu Nuhu-Sambo, on Oct. 20. Nuhu-Sambo was allegedly flogged to death, for absconding from school.

The acting police public relations officer, Kaduna, ASP Mansur Hassan, said more arrests would be made as investigation progressed.

It is unfortunate that the poor boy had to lose his life over this incident. It is just another bad example of how life could be nasty, brutish and short in the country. It is bad that a student would refuse to go to school, no doubt, but the solution does not lie in flogging him to death.

The narratives seem too real to be believed. That Nuhu-Sambo, a 19-year-old JSS 3 (Basic 9) student could be so maliciously treated ostensibly for absenteeism from school, beggars belief.

His sister, Rukayya, said it was an uncle that took him back to school on the fateful day,after he had said he would not return there because he failed his promotional examination and did not want to repeat the class. According to the sister, the uncle handed him over to the principal who flogged him after the man had left. The vice principal then took him to the assembly ground where the flogging continued in the presence of the other students, apparently so they could see the fate that awaits them if they played truancy. His school mates said he was given 100 lashes on the assembly ground.

As if the flogging was not enough, the boy was returned to the principals office for another round of flogging. The victim wanted to run away but was prevented by some of the school prefects. He was said to have lost some teeth in the process and subsequently went into coma.

Rather than rush him to a hospital, they dumped him near the school toilet until after school hours before taking him to a nearby hospital, only to be told that he had died.

The school owners promptly dissociated themselves from the incident. But they can only be exonerated if that was the first time such a thing had happened in the school.

It is however gratifying that the Kaduna State government has shut down the school. A statement signed by the Director-General of the Kaduna State Schools Quality Assurance Authority (KSSQAA), Dr Usman Abubakar, said In the interim, guided by the provisions of its Establishment Act (amended 2015), the KSSQAA has closed down Al-Azhar Academy, Zaria, and the school premises remain sealed pending the outcome of the investigation.

This may seem belated but it is still good that it has happened. Without prejudice to whatever investigation the police or the school authority is doing, it does not seem to us that the harsh and inhuman corporate punishment administered on the victim was the first of such brutality in the school. It has only turned out to be the one to attract negative publicity to it because life is now involved. We would be glad to be proved wrong.

We said Kaduna States closure of the school is somewhat belated advisedly. Many states do not have inspectors like in the olden days, who would pay random and unannounced visits to schools to assess them. That is why the state governments are almost always reacting after the deed had been done. The fact of the matter is that many of these schools, particularly the privately-owned ones, are substandard in virtually all respects. Their teachers, including principals, are miserably paid and they often take this out on the students.

We commiserate with the boys parents and other relatives for this irreparable loss and urge a thorough but speedy investigation of the incident. All those involved must be prosecuted. Those of them who are still minors should be remanded. Such brutality must become a thing of the past, not only in schools, but in the society at large.