Magistrate B. O. Abdul Salaam of the Ado Odo Otta Magistrate Court has been commended by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) for jailing the parents of a student whose mother brought thugs to the school to beat his teachers.
MURIC’s commendation came in a statement issued by the group’s director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Friday, 28th January, 2021.
The group said:
“Magistrate B. O. Abdul Salaam of the Ado Odo Otta Magistrate Court recently ordered that parents of a student whose mother brought thugs to the school to beat his teachers be remanded in Abeokuta and Ilaro correctional facilities.
“MURIC salutes the wisdom of this judge. Magistrate B. O. Abdul Salaam is another Daniel ‘come to justice’. His judicial pronouncement has injected a heavy dose of confidence in the Nigerian judiciary. He has also sent a strong message to unruly students as well as parents who condone indiscipline that a new sheriff is in town.
“Students have become too daring in recent time if reports of attacks on teachers in various schools is anything to go by. It is shameful that parents nowadays indulge their children and pamper them in spite of their recklessness.
“In the case handled by this magistrate, Joshua Joseph, a student of Toyon High School, Ere, Ado Odo, Ogun State, was sent out of the classroom for indecent hair style on Monday, 17th January, 2022. His mother stormed the school with hired thugs who beat up three teachers, Messrs Abel Thomas, Kabir Azeez and Adegun Adekunle (https://punchng.com/three-ogun-teachers-beaten-by-hired-thugs-parents-arrested/).
“In Ibadan, Oyo State, a mother, Mercy Johnson, allegedly took thugs to the school on 26th November, 2021 to beat up teachers (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/11/video-mother-takes-thugs-to-sons-school-to-beat-up-teachers-in-ibadan/).
“On 27th October, 2021, a teacher was beaten up by students for attempting to stop attack on a female student at the Itori Comprehensive High School, Itori, Ogun State (https://punchng.com/ogun-teacher-beaten-for-stopping-students-assault-on-female-school-mate). On 4th December, 2021, in Delta State, Michael Ogbeise, an SS3 student beat his teacher, Ezeugo Joseph, to death for flogging his sister (https://tribuneonlineng.com/ss3-student-beats-teacher-to-death-for-flogging-his-sister-in-delta/).
“In a sharp contrast to the behaviour of today’s parents, Chief Obafemi Awolowo set the example of strict parenthood. His daughter came home to report her teacher. Awolowo was then the premier of the whole Western Region comprising of all the Yoruba states of today (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti). Awolowo escorted his daughter back to the school and asked the teacher to flog her properly. The daughter was flabbergasted but it taught her the lesson of her life that the daughter of the premier of the whole Western Region must also subject herself to discipline at school.
“But today we see parents questioning disciplinary actions taken by school authorities. Some parents hire people who write examinations for their children and wards. We allow our children to dress like comedians, hoodlums and strippers. We look the other way as our daughters go out in nudity. We encourage our children to pursue Yahoo business to defraud innocent people while we revel in the illegal wealth acquired by them.
“Who did this to Nigeria? Where did we get it wrong? We must quickly engage in self-appraisal. Nobody did anything to us. Not, our leaders, not our adversaries, not witches, not wizards. We did it all to ourselves. We forgot where we came from and shut our eyes to our destination. We lost focus and became reckless. There is impunity everywhere.
“We must revisit our value system. We must change society but that change begins with every Nigerian. We must stop blaming our leaders alone, the police alone, the politicians alone. We must realise that every Nigerian home has become a training base for all the evils of the world: immorality, indecency, corruption, laziness, excessive materialism, acrobatic impunity, articulated spirituality and gymnastic religiousity. Parents must up their game in loco parentis.”
