Female student goes blind after slap by principal’s secretary(Photos)

Before January 29, 2015, the girl’s eyes could be said to be
perfect, going by the picture she took with her friends the
same month when the school celebrated its 50th anniversary.

But the tide changed against Iyanu and it seems she has lost
an eye.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the event that led to the change
in Iyanu’s life started when she was allegedly slapped by one
Mrs Funke Fashina, said to be the secretary to the principal
of the school. And what was her offence? The woman
reportedly saw her and two other girls emerging from an
unused room within the school building and enquired to
know what they were doing there. Before they could reply,
she landed a slap on Iyanu’s face first, and subsequently
others.

The girl’s right eye was said to have developed a problem
and had got worse, with the University College Hospital,
Ibadan (UCH), saying that she would require a surgery. Iyanu
told Sunday Tribune that she could no longer see with the
right eye.

Narrating her experience to Sunday Tribune, Iyanu said:
“On Thursday, January 29, students were having an
Agriculture class, so those of us offering Food and Nutrition
left the class and three of us went to stay in one of the rooms
in the building.

“We saw our teacher from the window of the room so we
wanted to step out to go and meet her. As we were about to
leave the room, we saw the secretary to the Principal, Mrs
Funke Fasina. She asked us what we were doing in that room
but before we could explain, she slapped us one after the
other.

“By the time I got home, my left eye had turned red and
painful. I told my mother what happened but she dismissed
me, saying that I would not have been slapped if I didn’t do
something wrong. On Monday February 9, my mother
followed me to school and the principal asked my mother to
take me to the hospital.

“We went to Catholic Hospital, Eleta, Ibadan and we were
told to do the scan of the eye. By then, my eye had become
bulgy and I was no longer seeing clearly. We went to St.
Gregory’s Ultrasound Centre, Yemetu. From there, we went to
the University College Hospital, Ibadan and I was told that I
would undergo surgery. We were told to bring N300,000 as
deposit. My parents have reported the case at the police
station in Alakia Adelubi and the woman admitted that she
slapped me.”

Iyanuoluwa said before the slap, she never had any pain or
itch in her eye, so the report that she had a problem with her
eye does not hold water. “Now I can no longer see with my
right eye and I am going through a lot of pains,” she stated.

Iyanu’s mother, Mrs Damilola Dahunsi, corroborated her
daughter’s narration, saying that she didn’t take the incident
serious initially.

“To my surprise, the eye started swelling up. I followed my
daughter to school on Monday, February 9 and the principal
was shocked to see the eye.

“We went to Mrs Fashina and I begged her to give us an
antidote if she used a charm on my daughter but she denied
using charm to slap my daughter. My daughter never had
any eye problem since she was born.

“We took Iyanuoluwa to UCH and we were told that she
would go through surgery. We did CT scan at UCH but the
result was cornered and we never saw it. We were told to go
home when we could not pay the N300,000 we were asked to
deposit.

“Unfortunately, the woman who slapped my daughter refused
to do anything financially and my brother who went to the
Commissioner for Education was told that efforts were on to
go round schools for students to contribute money towards
my daughter’s treatment.”

Sunkanmi Ojewumi, Iyanu’s uncle, decried the attitude of a
staff of UCH (names withheld), whom he said tried to
frustrate all their efforts because she is Mrs Fashina’s in-law.

“We didn’t get the result of the test carried out in UCH and
the police at Alakia-Adelubi did not get it also. To our
surprise, the result found its way to TESCOM where the
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Mr. Giwa,
told me he had seen the result and it indicated that the girl
might have had underlying problems that resulted in the eye
problem.

“He said the only way they could help was to go round
schools and seek donations from students, which TESCOM
would add to. It was claimed that she had a tumor in the eye.
But we will not accept the result because the girl never had
eye problem.

“We appeal to the government to come to the girl’s aid. We
don’t have any money and the father’s shop at Oki area of
Ibadan was razed recently and he lost goods worth millions
of naira. The mother sells provisions.”

Sunday Tribune gathered that the case was eventually
transferred to the Department of Criminal Investigation,
Iyaganku and was arraigned to court on Monday, March 9
for wounding. This was confirmed by the police’s
spokesperson in Oyo State, DSP Adekunle Ajisebutu.