Edeh, a senior secondary school three student and a citizen of the Netherlands was killed on September 18 when gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen attacked the school’s bus on Ihube Road in the Okigwe Local Government Area of Abia State.
Anthony Edeh, father of Edeh Donald, a student of Marist Comprehensive Academy, Uturu, Abia State who was killed by gunmen, has accused the school authorities of being responsible for his son’s death.
Edeh, a senior secondary school three student and a citizen of the Netherlands was killed on September 18 when gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen attacked the school’s bus on Ihube Road in the Okigwe Local Government Area of Abia State.
The students were said to be on their way back to Abia from a Final Religious Profession of some Marist Brothers.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, the father of the deceased asked why the authorities of Maris Comprehensive Academy failed to inform him and other parents about the excursion which took place outside Abia, where the school is located.
He also accused them of not providing security support, considering the security situation in the country.
Anthony demanded justice from government, civil society groups and well-meaning Nigerians, describing his late son as a lovely person.
He said, “They didn’t inform me that they would be taking him out of the school, and they didn’t provide any kind of security for that journey. After discussing with them, they admitted that they failed to do this and were responsible for the danger that killed him.
“The question I’m yet to get an answer to from them is what should we do next? What are we going to do now? The people sent to me from the school refused to answer that question, they were silent on it.
“Unfortunately, the school management went ahead to release their own side (of the story) to journalists, a one-sided story. I think the parent of the child should have a say. It’s normal that if you need to take a child out for excursion for whatever reason, out of the dormitory, even according to their own rules there, at least you should inform the parent that this is where they need to go and this is why they are going there. This information wasn’t passed to me.
“And again knowing the security situation in that state, they also failed to provide any kind of security support for the journey. Again, normally, when a group of students of that number are on such a journey, you also attach medical personnel should any of them fall sick or get injured. They didn’t do any of this; they confirmed this to me. I understand that when my son was shot, he was left alone because everybody ran away and he bled to death. So, there was no help at all from the school. All these are what I find very strange and I think this made them very responsible for the boy’s killing.”