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(See Video) SS2 Student Creates stampede in Rivers School after Opening Teargas Canister
Many students were injured on Thursday at the Community Secondary School, Oroworukwo in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, when an unidentified student allegedly opened a teargas canister in the classroom.
Some of the students, who were almost choked by the smoke from the canister, were seen in a video clip that has gone viral, jumping from the first floor of two storey building housing the secondary school.
It was learnt that the 17-year-old student in SS 2 got the teargas canister from the room of his late father who was a policeman.
The teargas canister was said to have exploded and the sound sent students jumping down from the first floor, while those at the top floor were seen in the video running for safety.
The incident, according to a source, happened in the morning and forced everybody out of the school premises for the entire day.
It was gathered that several students sustained various degrees of injuries as they frantically tried to escape from the two-storey classrooms block as smoke covered the entire floor.
An eyewitness, identified only as Nene, told SUNDAY PUNCH that some of the students, who jumped from the first floor fractured their bones.
Nene added that most of the victims were still hospitalised in a nearby private clinic.
She said, “An SS 2 male student opened a teargas canister in their classroom and out of fear; the students started jumping off the first floor. Many were injured and are still in Ana clinic, which is just close to the school. The hospital management had insisted that the parents of the injured students admitted in the hospital should pay their bills before they can discharge.”
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, told The Punch that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area, informed him that an SS2 students brought a teargas canister to the school.
Omoni explained that the teargas canister was kept in a room by the student’s late father.
He said, “The boy and some of his classmates began to fiddle with the canister before it exploded while they were in the classroom. The boy has been arrested and investigation is ongoing.”
Omoni, however, dismissed the claim in some quarters that the incident was cult-related.
The Punch
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
