Mother accuses school owner of taking kids to police station over fees

* Complainant abandoned her kids in school – Police

A beauty consultant, Theresa Anthony, has accused the owner of
the Treasure Heritage School, located at No 4 Fatoye Ajikawo
Street, in the Alagolo area of Ipaja, Lagos State, Abidemi Davies,
of taking her kids, Presley and Zoe, to the police station because
of incomplete payment of their tuition fees.

Our reporter gathered that the mother of three had an agreement
with Abidemi,to pay her three kids’ school fees of about N150,000
on a weekly basis, but when she (Theresa) could not meet up with
the schedule, her children were sent home.

Theresa, who said she had informed Abidemi that she needed more
time to complete the payment, because she was attending to a sick
child, added that she was surprised that the police were involved
in the matter.

The Delta State indigene said, “I was supposed to pay N150,000
for my three children, Shekinah, Presley and Zoe. I knew I could
not pay everything at a once because things were not going well for
me at that time, so I met with the owner of the school, who is also
their headmistress, and sought her consent to be paying N10,000
into the school’s account on a weekly basis until I would be able
to pay off and she agreed.

“I made a transfer of N13,000 that day. I had paid about N43,000
when Presley took ill and I begged her (Abidemi) to give me some
time to resume the payment, because I was spending money on my
son’s sickness, and she also agreed. I felt very helpless when she
sent my children home when they were already undergoing revision
for their examinations.

“I had to follow them back to school to appeal to her, but she
became so aggressive. She said I could not teach her how to run her
school and that my children should remain at home if I was unable
to meet the weekly payment schedule as earlier agreed.”

Theresa, who said she thought Abidemi was joking when she
threatened to involve the police, added that when a policewoman
from the Ipaja-Alagolo Police Station, Rasheedat Kassim, whom she
once had an issue with arrived, she (Kassim) made the matter worse
by taking her children to the station.

She stated, “Immediately Kassim saw me, she said I had come to
make trouble again; she didn’t hear me out; and when I saw the way
things were going, I left the school and went to my office. I left
my children there because it was early and I wanted them to attend
school that day.

“I was on the way to my office when Shekinah ran after me saying
that the policewoman had taken Presley and Zoe to the station and
that Abidemi said I should go and bail them at the station. So, I
quickly went to report to a human rights organisation, because I
felt humiliated that they subjected my children to such a
treatment. I want the law to take its cause.”

Based on the development, the Human Rights Initiative for the
Downtrodden petitioned the Area Commander, Area P Command, stating
that the children were taken to the station in a bid to arrest
their mother.

The petition read in part, “That Rasheedat Kassim of the
Ipaja-Alagolo Police Division arrested, detained, interrogated and
took photographs of Presley and Zoe Anthony, minors of ages five
and 10, without committing an offence, around 9am on November 19,
2018.

“That during our telephone conversation with Mr Abayomi Theresa,
the husband of the school owner on the issue, he confirmed that the
incident actually took place in his absence and he pleaded with
Abidemi not to be angry and called his wife and instructed her to
ensure the safe return of the kids.

“That Abayomi also informed us during the telephone conversation
that the arrest of the kids was in order to get hold of Theresa
when she eventually goes for her children.”

However, when contacted, Abidemi said she involved the police
because she did not want to take the law into her own hands as
Theresa assaulted her on the school premises.

The school owner stated, “As of the time her children were sent
home, they had successfully spent 11 weeks in school. I was
surprised that she came back to fight. She even tore my clothes
when she was struggling with me in my office. I don’t want to take
the law into my own hands, so I informed the police.

“Even when the policewoman came, she met her (Theresa) still
raging and immediately Theresa saw the policewoman, she ran out and
abandoned her children. She did that because she had issues with
the policewoman previously. She is a troublemaker

“So, the policewoman advised that we should go to the station to
sort it out, hoping that Theresa would meet us there. We waited for
her at the station but she did not show up; we called her mobile
telephone but it had been switched off. So, the police took the
children’s photographs and said I should take them back to the
school. They did not arrest or put the kids behind the counter; the
kids sat beside me.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti,
who confirmed the incident, said the police were looking for
Theresa for molesting Abidemi on the school premises, adding that
the claim that the children were arrested was wrong because the
school proprietor brought them to the station after they were
abandoned by their mother.

Oti said, “I am glad that you came to cross-check the story with
us for balanced reporting. As a matter of fact, we are looking for
that woman (Theresa), because she is on our wanted list, and any
time we are able to get her, we are taking her to court, because of
what she did to the headmistress, who is also the owner of the
school.

“She (Theresa) owed the school her children’s tuition fees. She
discussed with the headmistress that she would be paying little by
little and Abidemi sent her children home when she could not keep
up with the agreement. Instead of her to settle things amicably,
she went to the school and assaulted the headmistress.

“When we received a distress call that somebody was molesting
the headmistress in the presence of pupils, we sent out operatives,
who were led by a female officer, to stop the fight and arrest the
offending parties. The woman (Theresa), on sighting the female
officer, took to her heels. So, when the school was dismissed for
the day, she didn’t turn up to pick her children, because she was
afraid that she would be arrested.

“So, the principal, at the end of the day, notified the police
for record purposes and brought the pupils to the station to inform
us that the woman she reported to have assaulted her had abandoned
her children and that she didn’t know her house.

“After reporting, the police contacted the juvenile and women
centre about the case and an agreement was reached that the kids
could not be kept in the station because of their ages and that
Abidemi should find a way to reach their mother and the
headmistress took the children back to the school.”

The PPRO, who noted that the children were never detained at the
police station, added that the state Commissioner of Police, Edgal
Imohimi’s stance on gender and children’s issue was clear, adding
that the welfare of vulnerable children was uppermost in the mind
of the present police administration.