The Rivers State Government on Wednesday suspended the Principal of Community Secondary School, Borikiri in Port Harcourt, the state capital, Ella Ewos, alleged extortion.
Ewos was accused of denying students of the school the opportunity of taking part in the ongoing examination being organised by the West African Examination Council and illegally enlisting external candidates after allegedly collecting money from them
The state Commissioner for Education, Prof Chinedu Mmom, disclosed this to our correspondent on the telephone.
Mmom added that the embattled principal had been handed over to the police.
He confirmed that concerned parents and students of the school protested at the school premises over the development.
The commissioner said, “I just left the police station a while ago. I have ordered the arrest of the principal.
“He denied regular students the opportunity of being enrolled for the examination currently being organised by the West African Examination Council.
“So, students and their parents came for a protest and my attention was drawn to that. I ordered that the police should arrest and detain the principal.
“He has been arrested and detained. I went there and he confessed to the police that that was what happened.
“He will be charged to court. Meanwhile, he has been suspended with immediate effect.”
Our correspondent reported that earlier on Wednesday, scores of parents with some students stormed the school and protested the alleged exclusion of their children from the ongoing WAEC examination.
The placards-wielding protesters arrived at the school around 8am and blocked the gate.
They claimed that about 62 students were excluded from the examination after they have paid the required fees.
Inscriptions on some of the placards read, “No exam for anybody, exam for everybody, Principal choose one” and “We will not accept this injustice. Governor Wike and Education Commissioner, please come to our aid” among others.
In an interview with journalists, an aggrieved parent, Iyaye Sunday, said, “I saw the external candidates myself. They are in the hall sitting for the examination. My children and others are outside crying.
“I don’t know what to do. My children paid the WAEC fee. I came myself to pay for the children.
“The students are outside and we the parents are not happy. The students excluded are 62.”
Another parent, Leya Jeremiah, said, “Yesterday, my son called me that the principal said he will not sit for WAEC. Now, my son is outside.
“We are pleading that you people should come and help us. 62 students are outside.
“The principal said it is the school’s board that removed the students’ names from the WAEC list.”
Similarly, Sunny Brown, said his son also called his attention to what was happening in the school.
Asked what their demands were, Brown said the names of their children must be included in the examination list or else the examination will be disrupted.
