Bullying: Victim may sue As Abuja School Shut

Lead British International School Abuja, which has been in the eye of the storm over viral videos of bullying involving some of its students, has been shut for three days.

The shutdown order was issued on Tuesday by the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye.

The Public Relations Officer of the FCT Education Secretariat, Kabiru Musa,  confirmed that the school had been shut down by the minister.

“Yes, it was shut down by the honourable Minister of Women  Affairs for 3 days,” Musa in response to a Whatsapp message by one of our correspondents.

staff member of the school, whose name could not be ascertained as of press time, had earlier announced the shutdown of the school by the minister.

The PUNCH reports that an X user, @moooyeeeee, had on Monday night posted two videos of a female student of the school being repeatedly slapped by another female classmate.

The user called for justice for the victim. Since they were posted, the videos have drawn the wrath of many users of the microblogging platform, who condemned the incident and called for the school authorities to investigate and punish the culprits.

A third video depicting a separate case of bullying at the Lead British International School, Abuja emerged on Tuesday.

In the new video posted on Tuesday, some male students in the school’s uniform are seen surrounding another boy who appears to be in casual attire.

A student slapped the boy, who was on his knees, and then some of the other boys who were gathered appealed to stop the ‘bully’ from further harming the boy, who was later whisked away in the nine-second video.

An X user, @PopoolaJoke4, who posted the video wrote, “No be the same school?”, in response to the first viral video of bullying in the same school that was released earlier.

In one of the videos of the minister’s visit, the  representative of the school was heard saying, “By the request of the Minister of Women Affairs, we are Nigerians who respect rules and regulations and we are under the law because our school is actually recognised and our school is under the Federal Capital Territory, and we are registered and based on that, Lead British International School, Abuja is hereby shut  for three days.”

As of the time of filing this report, our correspondent could not ascertain whether the FCTA would use the occasion to investigate other private schools in which alleged cases of bullying take place in the FCT.

Victim threatens lawsuit

Namtira Bwala, the student assaulted by her fellow students at Lead British International School, has written the school management, demanding a thorough investigation and heavy sanctions for the 11 students who bullied her.

Two of the bullies were identified tobe Maryam Hassan and a certain Faliya.

Bwala, in a letter addressed to the management of her school through her lawyers at the Deji Adeyanju and Partners Law Firm, gave the school an ultimatum of 48 hours after which she will seek legal redress.

A copy of the letter obtained by The PUNCH read, “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 reoccurring issue in the school, and despite several attempts to draw the school’s attention to it, the issue has persisted, leaving our client traumatised from the emotional and physical effect of the oppressive acts by these daredevil bullies.

“Our client completely dissociates herself from the statement issued by the school on April 22, 2024, wherein a case of battery was unconscionably referred to as an ‘incident between minors’.

“Sequel to the foregoing, we have our client’s instruction to demand an 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.”

Yahaya Bello: Appeal Court fails to hear EFCC’s suit against order restraining ex-Gov’s arrest

Hearing on the appeal instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against an interim order of the Kogi State High Court restraining the Commission from arresting, detaining, harassing or prosecuting Yahaya Bello, pending the determination of the substantive originating motion for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, suffered a setback on Monday, as the Court of Appeal failed to sit.

The appropriateness of the siege on Bello’s residence by operatives of the Commission last Wednesday had elicited a heated debate across the country, particularly with the realisation that there had been a restraining order against such action, which had not been vacated as of the time of such action.

The EFCC had appealed the order on March 11, 2024 and sought for a stay of execution in Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CV/175/2024: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission v. Alhaji Yahaya Bello. The Court of Appeal did not grant the stay of execution but fixed Monday, April 22 for hearing.

However, the Kogi High Court, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, had delivered its substantive judgment in the matter and directed the commission to seek the leave of a superior court before taking further step against Bello. The judgment was read at about 12pm.

As at about 8am, when EFCC laid siege on Bello’s Abuja residence, the interim injunction, which restrained them from arresting or harassing him, among others, was still subsisting.

Justice Isa Abdullahi had, in his latest verdict, held: “Looking at the Orders sought by the applicant (Yahaya Bello), I am inclined to grant them subject to some alterations which in my view will meet the justice of this case, in the following terms;
1. An Order is hereby granted enforcing the Fundamental Rights of the applicant to liberty and freedom of movement and fair hearing, by restraining the Respondent (EFCC) by themselves, their agents, servants or privies from continuing to harass, threaten to arrest or detain or in any manner whatsoever arresting, detaining or prosecuting the Applicant on the basis of the criminal Charges now pending before the Federal High Court, Abuja to wit; Charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022 between FRN v. Ali Bello & Anor, without prejudice to the power of the said Federal High Court, to make any Order as it may deem just in the determination of the rights of the Applicant and the Respondent as may be submitted to her for consideration and determination.

2. An Order is hereby granted directing the Respondent to bring before the said Federal High Court, or any such appropriate Court, such criminal Charge, allegation or Complaint in respect whereof the Applicant is reasonably believed by the Respondent to have committed any offence subject of its jurisdiction, provided that the Respondent shall not invite, arrest or detain the Applicant on account of a reasonable belief that the Applicant has committed any financial crime, without first obtaining the leave of a superior Court of Record, especially haven regard to the antecedents of the Respondent in the manner it has managed its engagements with the Applicant.”

YOU MUST OVERCOME THE NEED TO BE LIKED
-Apostle Suleman lectures

If you have always been a people pleaser and always try your best to be liked by everyone, and do not like it when people are mad at you and always your mouth shut and letting people do and say whatever and walk all over you, Apostle Johnson Suleman has a word for you.

The servant of God at the Omega Fire Ministries (OFM) worldwide warns you should never try to make people like you. “Deal with fear,” he instructed in his latest homily. “The person who already likes you doesn’t need it, and the person who dislikes you doesn’t deserve it,” declares the ‘Restoration Apostle, warning that you risk being overwhelmed by anxiety and fear if you desperately need to be liked by others to be happy.

“It is fear. Fear is so terrible that it takes some components to crush fear; love, power and sound mind, including courage. To be free from fear, guard what you hear. When the devil throws fear at you, gather yourself and respond in faith,” Apostle Suleman lectures.

There are people who are incapable of saying no to other people; they struggle terribly to overcome the need to be liked by other people. But Apostle Suleman’s warning suggests the keyword to be ‘need’. It indicates that it’s perfectly okay to ‘want’ to be liked by other people. However, issues arise when it becomes a need, because you would do all sorts of dumb things just to crave acceptance in order to be liked. The famous preacher says the need to be liked by other people can only compound the problem by breaking your commitment to yourself.

It doesn’t matter if that means ignoring your values, lying to yourself, or pretending to be someone you’re not; as long as it results in you being well-liked by others, it sounds good to you. But Apostle Suleman points out the result: “Jesus Christ and other great people in world’s history never achieved the impossible goal of being universally liked. These exceptional people lived their truth regardless of whether or not everyone liked them,” he asserts, instructing that you’re better at focusing on living your truth than trying to be liked by others.

People will dislike you because of how you look, dress and talk. People will avoid you or pretend to fall asleep when you’re talking, for reasons you may never know. But, Apostle Suleman cautions you to commit to consistently living who you really are because, he says, if you don’t, no matter who you are, you will always say yes to people who don’t like you for whatever reason.