The Edo State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of all students captured in a viral bullying and assault incident at Igbinedion Education Centre.
Police spokesperson, Eno Ikoedem, disclosed that the arrests followed what she described as a “thorough and painstaking investigation” into the disturbing footage that sparked public outrage.
She said the suspects, identified as minors, would be arraigned before the Family Court in line with laws guiding juvenile justice and child protection.
In a parallel development, two families, Asoro and Uyi, whose children were implicated in the attacks, have issued formal apologies over the incident.
Providing insight into the sequence of events, the police said the violence stemmed from a dispute earlier in the month between two female students and a male student.
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“During the altercation, the said student reportedly uttered offensive words directed at their late father, specifically saying, ‘Ogun kill your papa,” the statement noted.
Police said the remark triggered an after-school assault by the girls on the student. The situation escalated when a parent who arrived to pick up her child attempted to intervene.
“Angered by the remark, the girls allegedly attacked the student after school hours. In the course of the assault, a parent, who had come to pick up her son, intervened, but the two girls, still enraged, turned on the woman, physically confronting her and ripping her clothes. The school management subsequently intervened and expelled the girls for engaging in violent conduct,” the statement added.
Authorities said the crisis deepened the following day when the son of the assaulted woman carried out a revenge attack.
“On the following day, a retaliatory incident occurred. The male student, whose mother was earlier assaulted, attacked the victim in the viral video in what has been identified as a revenge assault, which one of the students recorded and posted. The victim is the brother of the girls who assaulted his mother.”
Reacting to the development, the Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, has ordered a statewide reinforcement of the Operation Safe Schools Initiative to address security and supervision lapses in secondary schools.
The command also disclosed that its advocacy arm, the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), has been mobilised to intensify sensitisation and reorientation programmes for students and school administrators, aimed at preventing a recurrence of such incidents.
