The Lead British International School Abuja, which has recently faced controversy due to viral videos showing bullying among its students, has been closed for a period of three days.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, issued the shutdown order on Tuesday.
Kabiru Musa, the Public Relations Officer of the FCT Education Secretariat, verified that the school was closed by the minister of women affairs for a period of three days. At the time of reporting, the name of the school staff member who made the announcement about the school closure by the minister was unknown.
On Monday night, user @moooyeeeee shared two videos showing a female student from the school being slapped multiple times by another female classmate. The user demanded justice for the victim. The videos, once shared, incited anger among numerous users of the microblogging platform.
They criticized the incident and urged the school authorities to examine and penalize those responsible. Namtira Bwala, the student who was attacked by her peers at Lead British International School, has sent a letter to the school administration, requesting a comprehensive inquiry and severe penalties for the 11 students who harassed her.
Two individuals known as Maryam Hassan and someone named Faliya were recognized as the bullies. Bwala, through her lawyers at the Deji Adeyanju and Partners Law Firm, sent a letter to the school management setting a 48-hour deadline.
The ultimatum stated that if no action is taken, legal action will be pursued. Several parents, including Bwala, have reported a pattern of bullying at Lead British International School.
Despite efforts to address the issue, it continues, causing emotional and physical harm to the victims. “Our client wants to make it clear that she does not support the statement made by the school on April 22, 2024, which inaccurately referred to a battery case as just an ‘incident between minors’.”
Following the previous statement, our client has instructed us to request an urgent inquiry and the imposition of the strictest penalties outlined in the school’s regulations for Ms. Maryam Hassan, Miss Faliya, and nine other students who have established a group of bullies at Lead British International School in Gwarimpa, Abuja. “If the school does not take action against the student bullies within 48 hours of receiving this letter, our client has instructed us to pursue immediate and severe legal action against Lead British International School, Gwarimpa, without any further involvement from you.”
The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has deployed its officers to Lead British International School, as stated by the Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, in an announcement made on Tuesday. “She mentioned that they decided to take action in response to concerns raised by the public about videos on social media showing students being bullied at the school. She assured that the police were handling the situation and that inquiries were still in progress.”
Adeh stated that the FCT Police Command is in control of the situation and has assigned experienced officers to the school grounds for probing and to prevent any potential chaos. The school’s administration has also started looking into the issue, according to a statement they released.
Maryam Hassan, a student at LBIS, was caught on camera bullying her classmate Namtira Bwala and has since apologized for her behavior.
In a video, Hassan offered her heartfelt apologies and expressed regret that the incident occurred. In the video, Hassan expressed regret for her actions towards Namtira and offered her apologies to everyone’s watching, stating that she sincerely regrets what occurred and wishes it never happened.
The school has announced the appointment of a specialized team by the Head of the School, Abraham Ogunkanmbi, to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the issue. He mentioned that the team is currently collecting information, which includes reviewing video footage and conducting interviews with witnesses, in order to fully comprehend the incident and determine both the immediate and underlying causes.
As per the statement, the school has also contacted the families of both the offenders and the victims to provide them with counseling and appropriate disciplinary actions. “We have promptly started an investigation by assigning a specialized team to thoroughly look into the issue. This team is collecting information by reviewing videos and interviewing witnesses to comprehend the entire incident and determine both the immediate and underlying reasons,” stated the message on LBIS, Abuja Instagram page.
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