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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 first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
