School Owner, Three Teachers Jailed for Negligence in Edo

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A school proprietor, Paul Okungbowa, has been committed to six months in prison or a fine of ₦100,000 by an Oredo Chief Magistrates Court, Benin City, Edo State. Okungbowa, founder of Calvary Crown Academy, Benin, was convicted on Thursday for negligence and calling a parent a prostitute.

Okungbowa was the candidate of the Young Progressive Party, (YPP) in the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State. Three of his teachers, Blessing Osarodion, Egharevba Esosa, and Isioma Nimen, were equally convicted for negligence and abandonment of two pupils in their care.
The presiding Magistrate, Caroline Oghuma, sentenced Osarodion and Esosa to one year imprisonment or an option of ₦100,000 fine on each of the two counts bothering on negligence, leading to the injury of a six-year-old pupil, Salma Aigbudu. Nimen was convicted for unlawfully abandoning another pupil, Zuri Aigbudu, two, and sentenced to three months imprisonment or an option of ₦50,000.

The offences for which they were arraigned contravene Sections 167(2), 412, 270, 412 and 267 of the Criminal Laws of Edo State, 2022. According to the charge sheet, Okugbowa committed the offence on September 8, 2023, at the AIG Zone 5 headquarters in Benin, where he conducted himself in a manner likely to cause breach of peace.

He was said to have publicly called Mrs. Blessing Aigbudu, the mother of the two pupils, a prostitute in the presence of her husband and bystanders to the hearing of the public. For the teachers, the trio worked with the Academy and assigned as the caregivers for the children.

According to the sheet, the teachers failed to carry out their duty on the six-year-old daughter, which led to an injury on her face on September 29, 2021, and causing her a serious harm.
Salma Aigbudu was said to have been wounded in the waiting room of the school during the closing hour without any first aid administered on her by the teachers on duty.

The trio were also charged for abandoning another pupil, Zuri Aigbudu, two, in January 2022, thereby exposing the pupil to unnecessary danger.