The student at Lead British International School, Gwarinpa, Abuja, Namtira Bwala seen bullied by a co-student, Maryam Hassan and about ten others in a video that went viral earlier this week; has called for firm disciplinary recompense and other actions against the bullies.
Bwala made it clear that failure of the school to apply the necessary actions mandated by the school’s rule book against such acts will warrant a lawsuit. She enjoined the school’s administration to swiftly investigate and hold her bullies Maryam Hassan, Faliya, and others accountable as the right thing to do.
Currently, the school has been shut down over the incident following the order of Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, women affairs minister on Tuesday, 23 April. In a letter through her solicitors, Deji Adeyanju and Partners, the bullied student said if the school authorities failed to sanction the student bullies within 48 hours of the receipt of the letter, she would seek immediate and severe legal redress against the school.
“We are Solicitors to Miss Namtira Bwala (acting through her next friend), from now on referred to as our client, on whose instruction we act. Our client and several other parents in Lead British International School have informed us, and we verily believe them, that this act of bullying is a recurring issue in the school, and despite several attempts to draw the school’s attention to it, the problem has persisted, leaving our client traumatised from the emotional and physical effect of the oppressive acts by these daredevil bullies. Regrettably, our client has, once again, been subjected to physical attacks at the hands of these bullies, with the video of the act going viral on social media,” the letter, signed by Marvin Omorogbe, read in part.
Namitra’s lawyers lamented that rather than address the issue head-on by imposing severe sanctions on the student bullies; the school issued a lukewarm statement devoid of firmness or recognition of the severity of the situation. They stated that the bullied student completely dissociated herself from the statement issued by the school on 22 April, wherein a case of battery was unconscionably referred to as an ‘incident between minors.’
They stressed that it is this type of statement, coupled with the school’s gross negligence, that has enabled the student bullies, leading to increased incidences of unchecked bullying in the school. This environment should ordinarily be a safe space for students. They said “Sequel to the preceding, we have our client’s instruction to demand the immediate investigation and the pronouncement of the stiffest possible sanctions in the student’s rule book on Ms Maryam Hassan, Miss Faliya and nine other students who have formed a cult of bullies in Lead British International School, Gwarimpa, Abuja. Please note that if the school fails to sanction the student bullies within 48 hours of the receipt of this letter, we have our client’s further instruction to seek an immediate and severe legal redress against Lead British International School, Gwarimpa, without further recourse to you,”