Following the alleged beating of a corps member Esi Uwakwe serving in Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State, by some officers of the Nigeria Police, the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), on Tuesday said that the case facts were grossly exaggerated.
Authorities stated that the corps member who is serving in a school, went beyond the acceptable approaches to discipline by causing knee injuries to one of his students whom he instructed to crawl on her knees.
A statement issued by the Director of Press Unit, Mrs Abosede Aderibigbe, in Abuja, revealed that the act angered the father of the student who took the matter to the police, adding that “in the course of handling the case, an overzealous officer slapped the corps member.”
The statement reads in part:”Management wishes to inform the public that findings of investigation launched by the Scheme show that the facts of the case were grossly exaggerated, especially in the social media.
“Our findings showed that the corps member, who is serving in a school, went beyond his responsibility of teaching and adoption of acceptable approaches to discipline by causing knee injuries to one of his students whom he instructed to crawl on her knees.”
It maintained that the scheme’s position on the matter was that both the corps member and the policeman were wrong in their approaches.
However, NYSC noted that the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, had also invited all parties to his office for amicable resolution of the case.
It added that the policeman in question has since apologised for slapping the corps member.
“Management wishes to stress that the picture of a man with cuts on his back, which is being circulated online, is not that of corps member Uwakwe, but merely posted by some with intent to cause mischief and further mislead the public.
“While we sympathise with both the injured student and the corps member, whose inexperience might have resulted in his excesses in his approach to discipline, we wish to restate that the publicity the case generated would have been normal if not for the exaggeration.
“Management remains committed to the safety and dignity of corps members, but wishes to advise those on teaching assignment to always exercise caution in handling disciplinary cases and to, especially, refer serious cases to their school supervisors to be on the safe side,” it added.