A 13-YEAR-OLD PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENT at Cedarville Montessori School in Magbon Ibiye, Lagos, has sued her proprietress, Mrs. Kemi Omoyah, and her husband, Mr. Omoyah, in a Lagos High Court in Yaba for allegedly bullying her and violating her rights.
In the complaint, filed through her mother and founder of Boys Lives Matter, Nkechi Macaulay, the girl seeks N5 million in exemplary damages from Mr. and Mrs. Omayah jointly for the infringement of her fundamental rights.
She also demands N1 million in special damages for the cost of the action, as well as N400,000 for the cost of her therapy sessions.
According to the adolescent, the award against her mother was made in the interest of justice and for a violation of her fundamental rights.
She claimed that the offense violated her fundamental rights as granted by Section 34 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria's Constitution (as amended), Section 10 of the Lagos State Child's Rights Law of 2011, and Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights (as ratified and domesticated).
"I was invited alongside four of my students and at least four teachers, who proceeded to argue with me over a statement I made to another kid in my class," she explained.
"Months before, I told the kid in question that a former student of the school had reported to me that a charm had been hidden in the school."
"Mrs. Omayah told me at the time that it was the Holy Spirit that told her that I had been saying that a charm was buried in the school, to other students of the school.
"Without giving me a chance to respond, she began flinging insults and accusations at me, saying things like, 'you have a wicked heart,' 'you are attempting to tear down the school spiritually,' and 'you are possessed by evil spirits.'" She labeled me a witch, and she threatened to bring down my mother as a result."
"She then convened a panel comprised of herself, the school's teachers, the school's food vendor, and several pupils from the school who were asked to attend my trial." As many on that panel joined her in hurling insults and bogus allegations at my mother and me, I was subjected to the most extreme form of embarrassment, harassment, bullying, pain, and torture.
"She never notified my mother, who is my surviving parent, of their plan to interrogate me at any moment, and she forced me to sit through a hostile trial, with no adult safeguarding my interests and insuring my well-being." I was terrified; I felt tormented, traumatized, bullied, and frightened as a result of her acts."
The proprietor of Cedarville Montessori School, on the other hand, told The Guardian last year that Mrs. Macaulay harassed her with police for punishing her child over a comment she made about her school.
