Calvary Crown Academy owner Paul Okugbowa and three teachers were sentenced to prison by the Oredo Chief Magistrate’s Court in Benin for assaulting a parent.
The presiding magistrate, Caroline Oghuma, handed down her decision on Thursday, imposing a six-month prison sentence with a N100,000 fine for calling a student’s mother a prostitute. It was learned that Okugbowa was the Young Progressive Party (YPP) candidate for the 2024 Edo governorship election.
The three teachers—Blessing Osarodion, Egharevba Esosa, and Isioma Nimen—were charged with carelessness and abandonment of two pupils in their care. Osarodion and Esosa were sentenced to one-year imprisonment with an option of a N100,000 fine on each of the two counts linked to negligence, which led to the injury of a 6-year-old pupil, Salma Aigbudu.
After being found guilty of forcibly leaving behind another student, Zuri Aigbudu, age two, Nimen was given a sentence of three months in prison or N50,000. They were charged with offenses that violated Sections 167(2), 412, 270, 412, and 267 of the Edo 2022 Criminal Laws.
According to the charge sheet, Okugbowa committed the offence on September 8, 2023, at the AIG Zone 5 headquarters in Benin, where he conducted himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace.
He was said to have publicly called Mrs Blessing Aigbudu, the mother of the two pupils, a prostitute in the presence of her husband and bystanders to the hearing of the public.
For the teachers, the trio worked with the academy and were assigned as carers for the children.
According to the charge sheet, the teachers failed to carry out their duty concerning the six-year-old daughter, which led to an injury on her face on September 29, 2021, causing her serious harm.
Salma Aigbudu was said to have been wounded in the waiting room of the school during the closing hour, with no first aid administered to her by the teachers on duty.
The trio was also charged with abandoning another pupil, Zuri Aigbudu, in January 2022, thereby exposing the pupil to unnecessary danger.
