Fury in Ekiti school over juju scare

The Federal Science and Technical College, Usi-Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State is known for its peace, tranquillity and excellent academic performance.

Of late, however, the once-peaceable school has been in the news in the wrong reason. The members of staff and students are up in arms against their Principal, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Kolawole who they alleged is using juju against them. The mysterious death of one of the members of staff of the school, Pastor Steve Adeegbe in an auto crash fuelled the insurrection.

As a result of this development, things are no longer at ease at the college as other members of staff accused the Principal, Mrs. Kolawole of “spiritually masterminding” the late teacher’s death.

The teachers also alleged that many of them who are not in the good book of the principal, have been marked for death in similar circumstances.

They also alleged that the principal is fetish as she consults spiritualists in a bid to diabolically send them to their untimely graves.

Students of the school recently staged a public protest against the principal. They carried placards which described her as “wicked and high-handed.”

But Mrs. Kolawole is defending her integrity against the allegations leveled against her. She claimed that the students were incited against her by  the teachers who didn’t like her and who wanted to tarnish her image.

Southwest Report investigations revealed that the crisis in the school had attracted the attention of the Federal Ministry of Education which prompted the deployment of a high-powered delegation to investigate the crisis and take appropriate action.

The death of Adeegbe sparked an outrage from the members of staff who claimed that the deceased had a strained relationship with the principal before his untimely death.

The teachers and other non-teaching staff held several meetings and allegedly decided to take the battle to the principal, insisting that “the school would not know peace unless the principal is transferred from the school.”

They alleged that since the principal and one of her loyalists simply identified as Mr. Awe, had earlier made statements they considered evil against the deceased, the duo could not claim innocence of his death.

Mrs. Kolawole was further enmeshed in trouble for allegedly stopping members of staff from holding a service of songs for the late Adeegbe in the school hall as part of activities to mark his funeral.

They accused Mrs. Kolawole of visiting many spiritualists in search of some diabolical means to deal with her perceived enemies in the school.

A woman, simply identified as Deborah, a casual worker in the school attached mainly to cleaning the Principal’s office, told Southwest Report that the principal had taken her along during her alleged several visits to spiritualists.

She further confessed that there were places she herself took Madam to for spiritual help on her request and persistence.

Deborah said: “Our Principal, Mrs. Kolawole is a very wicked woman. All I am saying I have said them to her face when we were asked to air our views on the tragedy befalling our school.

“My travails with her began when she first came up to me and asked me to take her to some spiritualists who can help her deal with her enemies in the school. I was first afraid and went home to tell my husband who discouraged me on the matter.

“But when Madam persisted, I took her to one Alfa in Ido but I had went behind her to warn the Alfa against doing anything evil for Madam and he agreed.

“At the Alfa’s place, Madam took money and gave names of some members of staff, saying she wanted to get rid of them. The school bursar, among other names, was mentioned. I once advised the Bursar to pray very hard.

“When Pastor Steve died, Madam told me that members of staff who don’t want her would continue to die one after the other.

“I also remember a number of occasions that Madam used me to bury some charms in strategic spots in the school premises.

“There was a time she took me and her driver to one herbalist in a far flung area in Osogbo, Osun State for consultation.

“I never knew what she discussed with him because she asked me to excuse them while they discussed. But I remember that we entered the herbalist’s chamber with our backs.”

Also, the principal’s driver, simply identified as Danladi, corroborated Deborah’s statements about the principal’s alleged complicity in strange happenings in the school. He pledged to tell the truth about all he knew of the matter.

Danladi said: “All that Deborah said are true. The Principal warned me not to tell anybody

about the Osogbo trip.

“There was a time we went to Lokoja and Madam asked me to pull at a point where she carried a concoction and threw it into the river. I can swear with Quran on what I have said.”

The school Bursar, Mr. Agbaje Kolawole, said: “I am one of the closest persons to the Principal. I am very close to her husband because he is a refined man but the first thing I did that got the

principal annoyed with me was that I condemned her action of using a foul language on a member of staff.

“In unison, we had to condemn her for using such language against a member of staff.

Another incident that happened was when we went for the burial of a former member of staff. We had to borrow money to go for the burial. On our way, we almost lost our lives.

“She never cared for us and didn’t even call while we were on our way.

Her predecessor called us several times, but the incumbent principal who we went to represent never called to know how we were faring.

“But when we returned I asked her why she behaved that way, she said she had a premonition that we would have an accident. I was angry because that revealed that she doesn’t care for me.

“The grouse we had with her is her highhandedness and her attitude towards the death of Pastor Adeegbe, a senior member of staff of the school. That she could be so unconcerned and uncaring towards such a tragic development tells much about her canny nature.

“I can say it anywhere even before the Minister of Education and the President that I regret ever working with our Principal, Mrs. Kolawole because of her crummy attitude.

“We knew she confessed to the Kabiyesi of our town that she belongs to a cult group and even caused the misfortune that befell some of us in the school.”

When Southwest Report approached the Principal, Mrs. Kolawole, she was reluctant to say “I am a civil servant.”

But when pressed further and confronted with the weighty allegations leveled against her, Mrs. Kolawole alleged that many of the members of staff are her enemies.

She said: “I have some enemies among the members of staff who don’t like me and they are behind my travails. They have poisoned the minds of the students against me and that is why you see the students saying terrible lies against me.

“The whole problem began when members of staff had issues with the their co-operative society and they said one of them simply identified as Awe allegedly made an evil pronouncement that he would draw blood from some members of staff for offending him.

“I was shocked and I instructed the Vice-Principal (Administration) to caution Awe and even issue him a query to that effect. We asked him to withdraw the statement three times but he refused.

“Later, Pastor Adeegbe had an accident and died. I don’t  know anything about his death and I didn’t do any charm against him. All that Deborah and my driver had said were lies; they were instigated to tell those lies against me.

“I think what prompted them to do this was that I gave them very small amount of money that I had after they had approached me for huge amount of money which I could not afford to give them.

“Deborah asked me for N150,000 for her child’s school fees, but I could only afford to give her N30,000. I think she is not happy with that. The driver also asked me for big amount of money and I only gave him a token.

“On Adeegbe’s issue, I didn’t allow them to do the service of songs in the school premises when they said their church wanted it done here because I wanted to prevent a crisis that I sensed was already brewing in the school then.

“They had already caused a stir, they protested against me and even locked me outside the school premises. They didn’t allow me to take some of my personal effects up till now.

“It is not true that I didn’t show any empathy for the dead. We had a minute silence for the man and even didn’t allow lessons to hold in the school for some days.”

The Principal, who didn’t deny going to a certain Alfa and a spiritualist in Osogbo for some help, however, said she was framed up by the cleaner so that she could be extorted.

“The whole story is false. She and those people framed me up in order to extort me. I would have taken up the matter to the police but I just left it for God.

“I don’t know anything about the charms she is talking about,” she said.

Also clearing his name, the principal’s loyalist, Mr Awe, who didn’t deny placing a curse of drawing blood on some people he felt didn’t like him, said he did so because his name as one of the debtors was exposed deliberately to mock him during the co-operative society’s meeting.

He, however, said he felt bad that a member of staff of the school, Pastor Adeegbe die days after his pronouncement.