Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secrets Reporters
There was pandemonium in Uyo on Thursday, May 21,2015, as members of the Uyo local government council task force sent a driver to his early grave along ikot oku ikono road,Uyo. Our investigations revealed that members of the task force were struggling the vehicle steering with the driver when the car was in motion.
The struggling went on till the car swerved to the other side and had a crash on the fence of the community secondary commercial school, ikot oku ikono, which left the driver of the vehicle dead, while members of the taskforce scampered and ran for safety so as not to be lynched by the angry mob who came to the scene to offer assistance.
It was recorded that pandemonium broke when policemen drafted to the scene were told by the teachers not to take the vehicle away until the principal of the school was notified, which upon hearing about the incident, Mrs.Ekaette Ineme who is the principal of the school, told the policemen to exercise a little of patience, so she could inform the state secondary education board and the ministry of education so she could be accountable in her report when submitting it.
Defending her actions, Mrs Ineme said, she wanted the state ministry of education to be involved so she will know who will be responsible in erecting the fallen fence for the school, as the school could not afford the cost of the repairs.
All of these, led to the annoyance of the policemen who beat up one of the teachers, Mr Matthew Akpan, leaving him naked in the school premises in the watchful eyes of the students and other teachers.
Mr.Matthew Akpan was later rushed to the hospital where he was admitted for treatment. Secrets Reporters learnt that, four teachers in the school were arrested by the policemen and their phones confiscated and were left incommunicado, as other teachers feared they could not go to the station to see their colleagues for fear of being arrested.
An eye witness account told Secrets Reporters that students of community secondary commercial school, ikot oku ikono,who were angry with the actions of the policemen, barricaded the road leading to Abak and Idoro road, thereby causing no vehicular movement.
The policemen who had left the scene after beating and arresting some of the teachers, reinforced and came back to the school, throwing canisters on the students and passersby, while also arresting a large number of the students who barricaded the roads in protest of the embarrassment they caused their teachers.
The intervention of the permanent secretary, who was contacted by the school principal, was the saving grace upon which the teachers were released.
Unconfirmed reports say, some of the students were later released late in the day as others were still awaiting release. When Secrets Reporters visited the school premises on Friday, teachers were not found, for the fear of what happened the previous day, as only few students loitered in the premises.
Meanwhile, the police have taken over the vehicle, and the corpse of the driver has been deposited in a morgue.
As at the time of filling this report, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) at the Force Headquarters could not be reached for his response on this, as calls to his mobile phone was unanswered.
