Our reporter
A Chief Magistrate Court in Oredo, Benin City has sentenced Paul Okugbowa, the Young Progressive Party (YPP) governorship candidate in the 2024 Edo State election, to six months imprisonment or a fine of ₦100,000 for defamation.
Presiding Magistrate Caroline Oghuma found Okugbowa guilty of insulting a parent, Mrs. Blessing Aigbudu, during an altercation at the AIG Zone 5 headquarters in Benin on September 8, 2023.
According to court documents, Okugbowa, proprietor of Calvary Crown Academy, publicly referred to Mrs. Aigbudu as a prostitute in the presence of her husband and other witnesses, an act deemed likely to cause a breach of public peace.
Additionally, three teachers from Calvary Crown Academy—Blessing Osarodion, Egharevba Esosa, and Isioma Nimen—were convicted on separate charges of negligence and child endangerment.
Osarodion and Esosa received one-year prison sentences each (or ₦100,000 fines per count) for negligence that resulted in a serious injury to a six-year-old pupil, Salma Aigbudu. The court heard that Salma sustained facial injuries in a school waiting room on September 29, 2021, with no first aid provided by the teachers on duty.
Nimen was sentenced to three months imprisonment or a ₦50,000 fine for abandoning two-year-old Zuri Aigbudu, another pupil at the school, in January 2022, exposing the child to unnecessary danger.
The court described the teachers’ actions as violations of their professional duty of care, contravening Sections 167(2), 412, 270, and 267 of the Edo State Criminal Laws of 2022.
Mrs. Aigbudu, mother of the affected children, expressed relief at the judgment. “This is a victory for parents who entrust schools with their children’s welfare,” she said.
As of the time of filing this report, Okugbowa and the teachers have yet to comment on the judgment or indicate if they will appeal the decision.
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