Iniobong Archibong, father of Don Davis, a student of Deeper Life High School, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, who was allegedly molested sexually by his seniors, has revealed that the school authorities told the family to withdraw the case to cover up the assault.
In a viral video on Facebook, Deborah Okezie, Davis’ mother had cried out to Nigerians, pleading for help to get justice for her son who had been molested by his senior students and starved consistently at the Uyo Campus of the school despite the full payment of school fees.
According to information obtained from the video, Don Davis’ mother had gone to pick him up on Friday from the school and was the last person to pick up her child there. However, she noticed that he was sick and had not been attended to. The mother also alleged that she noticed her son was not able to sit properly, which prompted her to check his buttocks. From the look of his anus, Deborah said her son had been sexually molested. This was later confirmed by doctors at the hospital where Don Davis was taken. He was put on a drip at the hospital and is currently on the 12th one.
Don Davis claimed that his seniors in the school inserted their fingers into his anus.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, Archibong stated that the state Superintendent of the Church, Deeper Life Christian Ministry, had visited the hospital where the boy was being attended to alongside the principal of the school, Ndidi Solomon; chairman of the school’s medical forum and another prominent member of the school board.
He said, “They all came here yesterday. Before the superintendent arrived, the three of them came. They were on their knees begging us to withdraw the video from the Internet but I told them we had no control over that. It had gone viral already.”
Archibong stated that the State Superintendent of the church expressed shock over the feeding conditions of students in the school.
He said, “The superintendent said he approves N2.2 million every week for the feeding of the students and that he didn’t understand why this could have happened. He said the principal has to explain.”
The distraught father said rather than explain, the principal was begging on her knees.
“She apologised, stating that she was the one that caused the incident. She said when the boy’s mother (my wife) came on November 11, and talked about it, she promised to expel those children from school but never did.”
Archibong added that the Akwa Ibom State Government has set up a committee to investigate the matter.
“The Commissioner for Education and some other state government officials were here with us this morning in the hospital. Members of the investigation committee are going to the school.
“The issue does not have to do with my child alone, what about other children that are being abused?”
The father said he was sure that justice would be served on the issue.
“These things should not continue; brutality and bullying should stop in our schools,” he said.
He said the case had been reported to the police and that a meeting had been scheduled for Monday afternoon with the Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
