Delta govt shuts school over relentless herdsmen attacks, indicts army, police

By Gabriel Elozino, Ughelli

Ohoror Secondary School in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State has been shut down indefinitely over continuous attacks on pupils and teachers by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

Two students of the school and its security guard were last week attacked by the herdsmen who inflicted various degrees of machete cuts on them.

According to a staffer in the school, the decision to finally shut down the school came on the heels of repeated threats of attacks by the herdsmen after the first incident.

The staffer who spoke anonymously disclosed that they were constantly being harassed by the herdsmen which had led to the abandonment of their work and studies by the staff and students, fearing for their lives.

He disclosed that the principal had told them to stop coming because the Chief Inspector of Education (CIE) has shut down the school over the continued herdsmen attacks.

Reacting to the development, Delta State commissioner for Education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, who hails from there, condemned the continuous attack on his community by the herdsmen.

He accused the army and police of collaborating with and shielding the herdsmen. Speaking to newsmen at Ohoror community, Muoboghare said the school is not in session because Fulani herdsmen have chased the teachers and pupils away after the hor- rible event that occurred sometimes last week when they abducted three students.

According to him, “the community rose and pur- sued them into the forest and were able to rescue the children while three of our boys were shot and the following day, same thing like that happened again; and this is a school where government just gave us a project to renovate one of those classrooms and get in some lab equipment but the contractor handling the project has abandoned it because of herdsmen menace.”

He added: “The contractor has run away, the students and staff all gone because no parent will want their child to be here under the circumstances that three children have been abducted here and rescued by the community at a cost, The Trumpet gathered.

“You cannot see the police presence here, and I am not expecting the Commissioner of Police to do anything and he cannot do anything, considering the calibre of persons that own the cows.

Read Also: Why I slapped Obiano’s wife, by Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu

It is not these people that come here to embarrass us that own them, but the Generals and Alhajis and the kind of people that come from around the barracks.

“The community is aware of how the herdsmen come in, escorted by military men, and it is not like the Nigerian government is not aware of what is going on. We are just abandoned to our own fate. The needle is a very small object but extremely difficult to swallow.