By Juliana Francis
A mother, Mrs. Folake Sokoya, has narrated how security guards attached to the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, attacked her, beating her black and blue.
Sokoya, who said that the incident occurred on July 11, explained that she was battered when she rushed to the school to find out why her son, Daniel, was being beaten by security guards.
She explained that trouble started for her after she asked the security men why Daniel was repeatedly slapped and beaten. She claimed that rather than respond, the security guards pounced on her with head butts and barrage of punches. The woman displayed her bruised body, face and injured leg.
Since the incident, Sokoya had been frequenting hospitals and spending money on lab tests, scans and x-rays.
Although Sokoya is demanding the arrest and prosecution of the guards who battered her and Daniel, she thanked her lucky stars that she was alive to tell the story of the encounter.
She said: “People working in the school and students told me that my son and I were lucky. They said that in April the guards shot and killed a student.”
Sokoya noted that the problem with the guards started after they sighted Daniel wearing earrings. She said they accused Daniel of being a cultist and even attempted to force him to write a statement claiming to be one.
Recounting the genesis of the incident, Sokoya, a journalist and media consultant, said: “I sent Daniel to take one of my adopted sons to LASPOTECH, to meet with the admission officer and find out how the boy could get admission into the school. Barely an hour after they left, my son called me that a security man had arrested and taken him to their office.”
She called Daniel friends; one of them told her that the boy was at the security unit and was being beaten.
Sokoya said: “The young lady said that I should hurry to the school; that a man was slapping Daniel and could blind him. I became frightened. I asked if she knew what my son had done, she promised to find out. But I was already on the school premises by then.”
When she reached the security post, she saw Daniel and her heart broke. The boy’s face was all swollen. She walked into the guards’ office, asking to speak with the CSO. She was told that the CSO was not around.
She recalled: “I stepped out with my son and the girl that assisted me in locating him. I called a friend, trying to get the CSO’s phone number. As I was speaking on the phone, one of the two guards approached me. Daniel said that he was the person that attacked and beat him up.
I asked why my son was beaten like a thief. Marks were on his face. I was shocked, when one of them, instead of responding to my question, pushed me, shouting that I should get out of his way. I fell backwards and hit my head on the floor. I stood up with the help of my boys.
I held the man that pushed me and I told him that the CSO must come to see how his men had manhandled me. That was how both men started beating me, giving me a series of blows. One of them gave me a head butt, knocking my glasses off my face. My glasses shattered.”
She was dragged into their office, where they allegedly continued to hit her. When Daniel noticed how badly his mother was being brutalised, he tried to help, but the men turned on him.
In the midst of the bedlam, a tall man walked into the office and ordered that Sokoya should be locked up. He also ordered that her pictures should be taken.
Sokoya stated: “After taking snapshots of me, he forced me into an adjacent office.
He then introduced himself as the CSO. It was then he asked me what happened. It was in that process he realised I was a mother. He told me that his men dealt with my son because he was wearing earrings.
He said that I must write a statement saying that I came to harass his men and tore their clothes because they seized my son’s earring.
He threatened to call the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Shagamu Road Police Division to arrest me if I refused to cooperate. He showed me pictures they took of me and said that he would tell the police that I was a cult member; that I would be locked up.”
Sokoya said that she was not inclined towards her son wearing earrings. She explained that Daniel briefly relocated to USA to live with his dad. But his dad asked him to return to Nigeria in order to sit his final exams. He would be going back in November.
When Daniel returned to Nigeria, Sokoya was shocked to sport the earrings. Furious, she called his dad, who told her that it was nothing. Incidentally, Daniel’s dad told Sokoya that the ear had just been pierced and that the earing could only be removed by Friday. But the LASPOTECH incident happened on Wednesday.
The institution’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Kuye Olanrewaju, said that Sokoya narration of what transpired on the campus was a pack of lies.
He said that Daniel flouted the school dress code, which was that males shouldn’t wear earrings.
Olanrewaju alleged that when Daniel was instructed to remove the earing; he refused and instead dashed home to call his mother.
“He refused to remove it, and then we had to remove it. He went home to call his mother. The mother came and attacked our security men. We thought she was a mad woman. She tore the clothes of the security men. We have pictures.
With this action, she has landed the boy in trouble. The boy is a spoilt brat. The security men had to defend themselves. It’s not true that the security men tried to force the boy to write a statement that he was a cultist. He was asked to remove the earrings and then placed on surveillance,” the PRO said.
One of the security men, Mr. Hitler Moses, said: “I was heading to the office, when she just grabbed me and started slapping me. I ran and she chased after me. She simply went wild. Everything she said was a lie.”
Daniel, 20, 200Level, studying Hospitality Management, said that he was not aware of such rules and regulation. He explained that before he went to the campus that day, he was checked, along with his identity card. He would later walk a friend out of the gate. It was when he was returning to campus that the drama started.
He said: “One of the security guards approached me and said that I should follow him to the security unit. The only thing I asked was that he should show his identification, which he did and I followed him. When we got to their post, he said I was rude and was wearing earrings. He was still asking me questions when one the guards came from my back and started beating me.
“I had already sent a text message to my mother while I was heading to their post. When my mother came, she asked for the CSO, but they lied that he was not around.
One of them pushed my mum; she fell down and we assisted her up. The security men started beating my mum and I. Before my mum came, I had written a statement, stating how I was beaten. They tore it and said that I should write another one.
They said that I should write that I was a cultist and that I called other people to call to the post to attack them because I was asked to remove my earrings. There was never any time I left the school to go home to call my mother. Whoever said that was lying.”
Source:- Newtelegraphonline
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