By Martin Paul with agencies report
Abuja
A Junior Secondary 111 student, Ralia Suleiman, of Government Junior Secondary School, Kachia, Kaduna state, whose teacher destroyed her eyesight, is in search of N1 million for operation before she could see with her two eyes again.
The right eye of Ralia Suleiman, who is the deputy head girl of the school, was allegedly hit when her teacher used a horsewhip embedded with iron pellets to flog her.
Her father, Suleiman Umar Kachia, a farmer in Kachia, Kachia local government area of Kaduna state, narrated the incident to Premium Times at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna where she is receiving treatment.
Suleiman said the teacher, Moses Auta, who doubles as the school’s discipline master, on February 23 used a koboko with several iron balls tied to it to beat his daughter.
“In the process, the cane hit her right eye and destroyed it,” the man said.
“I reported the case to Kachia Police Division. He (the teacher) took her to Kachia General Hospital, where we were referred to the National Eye Centre in Kaduna.
“The National Eye Centre said her eye lens has been destroyed and she cannot see from the eye. The only treatment they gave was to adjust the eyeball from falling into her skull and to stop the bleeding,” he said.
Mr. Suleiman, however, said experts at a private eye clinic in Kaduna, Thelish Eye Clinic, said they can restore the eyesight, “but they demanded a deposit of N1million.
“Where do I raise N1million? Even if I will sell my house and the whole of my harvest, it can’t be up to that amount. It is even my relations that are paying the bill for the National Eye Centre treatment now.
“I am appealing to the Kaduna State Governor, the police and other relevant agencies and well-meaning Nigerians to please come to our aid.
“We are also seeking justice for the unjust treatment by the teacher who purposefully rendered my daughter one eyed and is roaming about freely as if nothing happened,” he added.
Ralia told Premium Times that the teacher, who also teaches Basic Technology, had on the fateful day called 20 of them, including the Head Girl, to meet him in the school’s laboratory.
“He ordered all of us to roll on the dusty floor of the laboratory, and started beating each of us with the cane attached with iron balls.
“I told him I was sick and had injuries on my back, but he insisted on beating me until the cane hit me on my right eye and blood started gushing out of it. Other students started shouting, but he didn’t stop until a female teacher rushed in and stopped him.
“Even other teachers in the school have been complaining about the way he has been indiscriminately beating and injuring students,” Ralia stated.
The police spokesperson Kaduna State Command, Aliyu Usman, an assistant superintendent, confirmed the incident, saying investigations are ongoing.
