Parents Enter Panic Mode as Teacher Forces ISI Student To Drink Urine

True, the hijab crisis that rocked the International School Ibadan, located on the campus of Nigeria’s premier university was laid to rest following the dismissal of the case by the Oyo State High Court, many parents who have children in the famous school are however beginning to panic over the welfare of their children.

On Wednesday 26^th June, 2019, a day after the court ruled on the hijab matter, Mrs J. Z. Abu, an Agricultural Science teacher, notable for wearing hijab, was alleged to have forced a student, Fayo Opeseitan of JSS 2C to drink his urine.

The boy was said to have asked permission of his teacher, Mrs. Abu during an Agric Science class, to go and urinate three times but the teacher declined. The boy was so pressed to urinate and had no choice than to urinate in a container in class. The Anchor Online gathered that when the teacher found out, she forced the boy in the presence of his classmates to drink his urine, which he did. The teacher then instructed him to go and rinse and discard the container.

The Anchor Online’s findings revealed that the incident coincided with the day the teacher’s husband, a lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan was announced a Reader. “In these days that spiritual meanings are read to issues, one needs to ask why she did that on the day her husband was promoted”, one student posited.

While the school’s management continues struggling to restore the confidence parents had in the school, the event is already pitching Muslim parents against their Christian counterparts. Meanings are being read to the incident as some are alleging that the action of the teacher, a Muslim, is a direct assault on a Christian student. The silence of the Muslim Rights Council (MURIC) is also said to be giving Christian parents a wrong impression.  

Findings revealed that the Principal, Mrs. Phebean Funke Olowe, was bombarded with phone calls from parents who were informed by their children when they got home from school. It was learnt that the Principal called the teacher to verify the allegation leveled against her. It was a tearful Mrs. Abu that confirmed the allegation to be true.

Not a few parents have wondered why the Governing Board of the school, chaired by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics, Prof. E. B. Ekanola has not taken any necessary action. “This delay in justice portrays insecurity and an attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet”, an enraged parent said.  

Yet another source of worry to those who feel the matter might have actually gone under the carpet is the fact that Mrs. Abu is a member of the ISI Muslim Parent Forum (MPF), one of the bodies involved in the Hijab matter. A release signed by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the Chairman of ISI MPF, on July 5, had accused the Principal of “high handedness and religious fanatism taken too far” for disallowing students from using Hijab on their school uniforms.

Efforts to reach the Principal for the school’s side of the story proved abortive as she neither answered her phone nor replied text messages sent to her as at the time of filing this report.