The Old Boys Association of Odomola Secondary School, OSSOSA, Epe, Lagos has explained why a 10-year old Peter Obi supporter, Miss Marvellous Barinaadaa, was sent home from school.
Speaking in separate interviews with THE WHISTLER on Wednesday, the President of the Association, Apagun Shola, and the Secretary, Adewale Adebayo denied the accusation making the rounds that Miss Marvellous was sent home from school for merely wrapping her notebook with an Obi poster.
Their defence was coming on the heels of accusation by the pupil’s mother, Mrs Barinada, who took to social media to say, “This is to inform you all, that my daughter, Marvellous Barinaadaa, was exited from Odomola Secondary School today 14th March 2023, by the principal, just because my daughter used Peter Obi’s poster paper to wrap her notebook for school.
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“And this girl is just ten years old.
“She didn’t know anything about politics, but she was sent away from school without informing the parents because they say we support Peter Obi and Labour Party.
“Please, is this act by the principal good? See what the school principal wrote in that letter. And after we will say we are one Nigeria,” Mrs Barinada reportedly stated in a note she forwarded to someone.
But both the president and secretary said the accusation was not true as it was merely to protect other pupils and was not in any way connected to Obi.
Obi was the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded presidential election. He was declared the second runner up by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the election Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was returned elected.
THE WHISTLER reports that Obi’s popularity led him to victory in Lagos against the former governor of the state, Tinubu, in the presidential election the Labour Party is contesting in court.
He was popular with the youth, market women and children especially in Lagos which was not considered his stronghold.
Even school children could be seen in the lead up to the election singing songs in his name just as many shared his posters.
According to Shola, Marvellous was found with such posters and was seen distributing them during school hours, which the principal deemed a nuisance.
He said, “What I heard was that she came to the classroom with LP Obi poster. When this was happening during break time or lunch time, I don’t know, she was telling other students to be shouting LP, Obi, 76; this song they are singing.
“When this was happening for days and was constituting a nuisance in the school compound, they thought it was not normal.
“The principal got to know. After that, they saw the poster she was sharing with other students ofJSS2 and the principal came to say that why would a student be doing such.
“You know the law in Lagos does not permit the people to beat the students or give them any punishment as such.
“So in her own wisdom she now said should I suspend her or what, after that election, she would resume.”
The secretary of the association, Adebayo corroborated Shola’s position explaining that she spoke with the principal of the school, Ebudola Jonathan, who explained to him all that transpired.
“I spoke with the principal this morning. The student in question came to school with Labour party posters, big ones, and was sharing it with other students during the learning process.
“I think the principal of the school, they called her,” and “they seized all the posters from her, even more than 12. They said they even cautioned her.
“They kept that evidence in case something like this came up. They even took a picture with the phone.
“The principal now gave her an entry form for her to go home, that this school is not a campaign ground. If you want to campaign, go home.
“On Monday, when the election has passed on Saturday, you can come back to school.”
The presidential election held on February 25.
He wondered why the incident that happened on 14th March would be revealed weeks after the election. “God knows who she gave the form to whether she did not give it to her parents or she gave it to her parents, they now went to manipulate the entry form, twisted what the principal wrote on the form. They now said ‘campaign for Peter Obi against the wishes of Lagosians’.
“If you checked the writing of ‘campaign against the wish of Lagosian’, you could see it is different from where the principal wrote her name and campaign.
“’After the campaign, every other letter there is different from the principal signature,” he noted.
THE WHISTLER made several attempts to speak with the school principal but her line was switched off as at press time.