Commissioner humiliates teacher for flogging his ward

By KELECHI MGBOJI

A female teacher with Urban Secondary School, Ebonyi State, Mrs. Thelma Nweke, has come face to face with lifetime humiliation in the hands of the state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr. Hyacinth Ikpo for flogging his (commissioner’s) deviant ward.

The commissioner’s child was said to have engaged in acts of indiscipline and ridiculing of the teacher by drawing cartoon image on the board and labeled it the teacher’s name.

It was gathered that when the teacher came to the class to teach her subject, she saw the drawing on the board with her name, and inquired who made the drawing.

After several threats to punish the students, they confessed that the drawing was done by the Commissioner’s child and consequently the school authority ordered her to flog the child but she declined which prompted another teacher to flog the child.

The child went home and reported to her commissioner father who came to the school the next morning with his wife, an Ex-officio member of the People’s Democratic Party PDP in the state and attempted beating up the teacher.

Nigerian NewsDirect gathered that it took the timely intervention of the School Principal to calm the Commissioner and his wife down. As if that humiliation was not enough, Ikpo went further to threaten the teacher with a sack and detention in police cell.

When contacted, Ikpo denied the allegation that he attempted to beat up the teacher but admitted that if not for his position as a Commissioner, he would have ensured that the teacher was thrown into the police ceil.

He said: “I did not beat up the teacher neither did my wife; I had to prevent my wife from talking because if I had not, the story would have been different. This office and my position as a Commissioner was what stopped me from making sure that the teacher is currently cooling off at the police ceil.

“So because I am a commissioner, I should sit down and allow somebody beat up my child. If not for the School Principal that pleaded with me, by now she would be teaching in one remote village because I would have made sure she is transferred”.

Ikpo presents an argument that every teacher has a nickname by students and that calling a teacher such nickname is not enough reason to flog such deviant student.

Hear him: “There is no teacher that does not have a nickname. Governor Elechi, when he taught me in school, he had a nickname we used to call him. What is wrong in a student calling her teacher her nickname? This is why some students don’t like attending some teachers’ classes, because the relation between the teacher and the student is not cordial,” Ikpo said.

Enraged by the development, a human right group based in Abakaliki, the Campaign for the Protection of Rights and Privileges of Civil Servants (CPPCS) has petitioned the Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Martin Elechi, the Supervising Minister for Education, Barr Nyesom Wike, the Ebonyi State Ministry of Education and the State Secondary Education Board against the commissioner for alleged harassment, intimidation and threats of Mrs. Nweke.

Briefing newsmen in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, the State Coordinator of the group, Comrade Emmanuel Chukwu described the incident as unfortunate and regrettable, saying that the incessant use of political power and position by some members of Governor Elechi’s cabinet to intimidate and harass innocent civil servants in the state must stop.
“We have been receiving series of report from both members of the public and especially civil servants in the state. The use of political position by some members of Governor Elechi’s cabinet and their aides to intimidate, harass and unleash threat of sack, seizure of salary and suspension to innocent civil servants discharging their legitimate duties,” Chukwu said.
He narrates further: “Just recently we got an information that a serving Commissioner, Chief Hyacinth Ikpo, Commissioner for Culture and Tourism went to Urban Secondary School Abakaliki and attempted to beat up a teacher who was alleged to have instructed another teacher to flog his child for act of indiscipline and ridiculing the said teacher, Mrs. Thelma
Nweke”.  

“The group on getting the information decided to visit the school for further inquiry into what happened and it was revealing, most regrettable and unfortunate that a man of such position would condescend so low to exhibit such an action. According to the students and some teachers, the Commissioner’s child cartooned the teacher by drawing her image on the board and labeled it her name”.
The organization wondered if children of political office holders should no longer be punished by their school teachers, adding that the action of the commissioner to the best of our understanding would not only encourage the girl to insult and make mockery of her teachers but would give her the leverage to believe that she can do anything in that school and get away with it.
It urged the Gov. Elechi who was once a teacher, Minister for Education, Barr, Wike, the Ministry of Education and the Secondary Education Board to ensure that political office holders desist from using their position to harass and intimidate innocent teachers in Primary, Secondary and tertiary institutions.