The proprietor of Calvary Crown Academy, Edo State, Paul Okungbowa, and three teachers have been sentenced to prison by an Oredo Chief Magistrate’s Court in Benin for negligence and insulting a parent.
The presiding Magistrate, Caroline Oghuma, handed down the judgment on Thursday.
She sentenced Okungbowa to six months in prison or a fine of N100,000 for calling the mother of a pupil, Mrs. Blessing Aigbudu, a prostitute.
The incident, which happened on September 8, 2023, at the AIG Zone 5 headquarters in Benin, was described by Prosecutor Austin Enababor as conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.
Okungbowa, a former Young Progressive Party (YPP) candidate in the 2024 Edo governorship election, publicly insulted Mrs. Aigbudu in the presence of her husband and others.
Three teachers at the academy—Blessing Osarodion, Egharevba Esosa, and Isioma Nimen—were also convicted on charges of negligence and abandonment involving two pupils in their care.
Osarodion and Esosa were found guilty of negligence which led to an injury sustained by a six-year-old pupil, Salma Aigbudu, on September 29, 2021.
Magistrate Oghuma sentenced both teachers to one year in prison or a fine of N100,000 on each of two counts of negligence.
The prosecutor revealed that Salma suffered a facial injury in the school’s waiting room during closing hours, and no first aid was provided by the teachers on duty.
Nimen was convicted of unlawfully abandoning another pupil, Zuri Aigbudu. She was sentenced to three months in prison or an option of a N50,000 fine.
The prosecutor stated that the teachers’ actions violated Sections 167(2), 412, 270, and 267 of the Criminal Laws of Edo State 2022.