Hello Nairalanders, my younger brother (who happens to be an SS2 student of one of the missionary owned school in Benin city) arrived from school today, looking so haggard, frustrated and brutalized. And when I asked him what the problem is, he said he was severally punished for a minor offence he even didn’t commit.
According to him, when he arrived school this morning, the 22nd of June, he met a lot of people at the gate, being heard outside because of failure to pay school fees. Having paid his own about 4weeks ago, he demanded to enter the school, but the gateman prevented him, saying he can only gain access to the school compound if he tenders his teller. The young boy informed him that despite he has paid, the school is yet to give him his teller, that if he really wants to know the truth he should go and check the list with the school bursar immediately, and that a physics test has been scheduled for 8.30 that morning, and that he can’t afford to miss it. But the gateman refuse to go and find out, instead he said if he is sure of the payment, he should wait for the bursar there at the gate, even if it takes the full day for him to come out and even if he had to even miss the useless test. That was when boy said that if he(the gateman) had been educated, he will know the value of school, and he won’t have been talking like that, and that he is only saying what he is saying because of his lack of education.
At this, the other students at the gate, who severely despise the gateman because of his nonchalant attitude, all burst into laughter. This infuriated the gateman who immediately grabbed my brother`s shirt in an attempt to beat him up. But at that point the bursars walked in. Realizing the magnitude of the act he was almost about committing, he quickly turned to the bursar, lying to him that the young man has been pouring insults on him right from when he stepped at the gate. Without asking questions, the bursar immediately ordered my brother to kneel down at the hard concrete floor, under the hot morning sun, of which he did immediately. But after spending just 3mins at the gate, the man return back to the school complex without addressing the real issue at hand, and totally forgetting he had ordered someone to kneel down on that hard floor.
According to Larry, my brother, after kneeling for close to 20mins, totally neglected, (acknowledging his physics test was due in less than 5mins) he got up and went straight to the gate, insisting he gets in irrespective of whether they want it or not. It was at that point the gateman called the bursar on phone, telling him that that same student he had asked to knell down had refused, but instead he making bigger trouble at the gate. At that point, the bursar went straight to the principal to lodge the complaint, and the principal immediately summon for the student in question.
After listening to Larry’s story, the principal also sent for the gateman, who I an attempt to defend himself, totally twisted the whole event in his own favor. To worsen everything, even the bursar supported him that all he said was true, as if he was actually there when all happened. Without trying to find the fact from a neutral body, the principal immediately took my brother and flogged him severally with double cain. And thereafter, took him to a very bushy field and gave him a large portion to clear, without which he will face immediate rustication, which my brother then spent the whole of the school hours with.


Now the issue is this; I know my baby brother very well, he is a very decent, sincere and serious minded person, and I believe his story very well. He has been coming 1st in his class, right from the very beginning, that we even change him to the school some years back, in other for him to have better competitors in his class. With the way he was brought up, there is no way he will start insulting his elders (even a school gateman) because he even treat the one at home with great respect, despite the inferiority associated with the job.
2ndly, even if the gateman was really insulted as he said, do the school/principal have the right to severely punish him to such enormity?
Now that it has been done, what step should I take? Mind you, the school might want to use the possibility of rustication to threaten us and to restrict any action we may want to take. Please I need intelligent contributions from intelligent people in the house, most especially the lawyers, school proprietors/teacher and parents/ guidance of the house. Thank you.

Sorry man. What's the name of the school?

Baptist High School, Benin City.

Can you go to the school and talk to the other students who witnessed the incident first?

I have spoken to some of his close friends, and they confirmed his story. However, i have asked a lawyer to handle the matter as I am leaving the country this weekend.