The principal of Islamic High School, Mr Abdullahi Fasasi, has been arrested by the Nigerian Police since Thursday over the sad incident of a stampede which occurred at the premises of Islamic High School, Orita Basorun, and in which many children lost their lives as a result of the stampede. It was also reported that the organisers of the funfair carnival, ex Queen Naomi, and the publicist of the event, Oriyomi Hamzat of Agidigbo FM, have been arrested too.
While it is understandable why the organiser and the publicist were arrested, it is quite concerning the reason the principal of Islamic High School, Mr Fasasi, was arrested. Pieces of information available to the public confirmed that Agidigbo FM sent a letter to Islamic High School, requesting the use of their premises for the program. The principal directed Agidigbo FM to seek approval from Ministry of Education and the approval was sought by the radio station, using its letterhead. Approval for the program was said to have come from the Ministry of Education. It was not known that the principal was involved in the organisation of the program and that he played any other role apart from relating the approval from the ministry to the organisers. Why then is the principal still being held after 48 hours that he has been arrested? There was no report of impunity on the part of the principal.
It is known to be a standard practice, or allegedly so, that members of the public who wish to use school premises for events should seek approval from the Ministry of Education through school principals. This is exactly what Mr Fasasi, the principal of Islamic High School, allegedly did with regard to the ill-fated program. Unless the police and the government have other details, implicating the principal that the public do not have, there is absolutely no reason for Mr Fasasi to be arrested and detained for three days now. At worst, he would be a star witness in the case arising from the unfortunate incident where precious lives were avoidably lost, and being a star witness should not involve arrest and detention.
This intervention is not interested in analysing who did what and who refused to do what. The aim of this intervention is to call attention to the injustice of detaining the principal of Islamic High School, an act which puts all heads of primary and secondary schools in Oyo State in danger as long as permissions are being sought for use of school premises to organise events and permits are given by the supervising ministry.
A perceived injustice to Mr Fasasi, the principal, Islamic High School, is an injustice kept in the cooler for all heads of schools in Oyo State. This is the reason ANCOPPS should mobilise their members and other stakeholders to send strong appeal to Oyo State Government government to get Mr Fasasi released unconditionally, immediately while the investigation on who did what and who did not do what concerning the sad incident is ongoing.
Maroof Asudemade, a book publisher and editorial consultant, writes from Ibadan.
