Teachers and pupils of LEA Primary School, Nabor, a village close to Angwa Rukuba, Jos, Plateau State, are now living in fear following the arrest of a university graduate, Sheriff Charles, who was alleged to have buried at least 25 raw eggs around the school premises.
Already, many pupils and even some teachers have deserted the school. The alleged culprit, Charles, who resides in the village with his parents and other siblings was said to have gone to the school after closing hours on Monday, November 24, 2014 to bury the eggs between two blocks of classrooms. As he claimed, the intent was for him to receive favour from God and man.
As Sunday
Sun learnt, Charles has remained
unemployed long after completing the mandatory one year service, thus prompting his recourse to what has now been interpreted by people in the neighbourhood as diabolic self-help that expectedly sparked off apprehension in the village. The
head of the school, Mrs. Deborah Solomon, said the pupils are now scared to come to school.
“We the teachers are even scared because we do not know his motive. He buried the eggs where thechildren normally go to play. We do not know whether it could be a threat to the lives of the pupils or it would have effect on their wellbeing. Up till now if I say I am happy, it is not true. I am truly worried. To encourage the children to come to school, some of us brave the odds and come to school. Since the incident, we do gather the few pupils who still come to school to pray for our safety. I have been encouraging them to believe in the living God and not the type of god people like Sheriff believe in. I do tell them that our God would not allow evil things to happen to us. So they should not be afraid.”
Though Charles insisted that the eggs were not to harm anybody but meant for his own good, Solomon said theteachers do not believe him.
“When we asked him to drink one of the eggs if they are not harmful, he refused to do so. If they have nothing to do with anybody he could have buried them in his house and if not his house, by the stream behind the school where people rarely visit or by the hills behind the school but not in the school premises. I do not know why he chose this school. There are other private schools around here but he chose to come here. Is it because it is mainly patronized by the poor?”
Giving insight on how Charles was discovered, Solomon said she had already gone home on the fateful day, but a pupil of the school recalled seeing Charles with a polythene bag in school. He dug a hole in the ground and put something in it. The pupil ran into the village to alert some people including one of their teachers living close by.
By then the villagers had already caught Charles, who was being dragged to the house of the Mai Angwa of Gwom Nabor, Mr. Sani Aware. The crowd was just too large that it was not possible for her to even see the man initially.
Comrade Marta, who is the state treasurer of the the Plateau State chapter of the Nigerian Union ofTeachers, said the mob was ready to lynch the man. Some were even throwing stones and other objects at him. But on getting to Mai Angwa he took the suspect in and prevented them from killing him. The people were very angry because they said the man could as well have planted a bomb in the school premises without them knowing, given what is happening in some parts of the country now.
Having taken effective custody of Charles, the Mai Angwa used the security number circulated publicly to invite the police and promptly handed Charles over to them.
Continuing the tale, Ibrahim said:
“He was taken to the school where he dug out 21 eggs in one of the holes. We did not see the second hole until the following day when one of our teachers was checking around. After putting the eggs in the holes, he had used dry grass to cover them up. Actually the teacher had used her foot to remove the dry grass when one egg popped out. Three other eggs were discovered in that hole. This is why everyone is afraid. If we had not discovered the other hole, nobody would know it was there. Now we do not know whether there are other eggs buried in other spots yet to be discovered. This is why everyone is afraid.
“When the man was questioned even while being taken to Mai Angwa, he wanted to confess but his mother who came to the scene did not allow him to talk. She was busy shielding him. Even when the villagers were throwing objects at him, she was using her body to parry them. At a point, her wrapper loosened from her waist without her knowing. When Charles was finally taken into the custody of Mai Angwa, he confessed that he did it to gain favour from man and from God because he was unemployed.
He said he got the idea from one of his friends during his NYSC days, who told him, “If things are not going well for you in life, you can go and bury eggs in a school and immediately things will change for you.”
Since Charles completed his service, he had not got a job and everywhere he went, he met brick walls. Then he remembered what his friend said and wanted to experiment it. When he was asked why he chose the school, Charles said it was because it was closer to where he borrowed the digger and the shovel.
From information gathered, he had asked his younger brother to collect the instruments for him from a nearby house. To conceal his motive from his younger brother, he sent the innocent boy to buy him suya (roasted meat) at Angwa Rukuba, believing that he would have finished what he intended before the boy would come back. When the brother came back, he saw him in the midst of the crowd that was trying to lynch him. Brotherly affection gave him courage and strength as he tried to rescue him, not knowing what wrong he had done.
From every indication, the villagers are telling Charles to tell his story to the birds because they do not believe one word of what he said. Their doubt stems from past experience that members of his family are alleged to be notorious for committing such diabolic acts even before they moved to Nabor because of the crisis that rocked the state capital.
While Charles was being led away despite the strenuous efforts of his mother and brother to free him, a woman came to the scene and asked the villagers why they allowed the family to live there. She said they were known for such diabolic acts while in Angwa Rogo from where they moved to Nabor. This explained why his mother tried toprotect him instead of scolding him for getting involved in such an action.
Following this development, the villagers have served a quit notice on the family to leave the village.
“We do not know whether it was their native doctor that gave him the eggs to bury in the school. They could be members of a cult and could pose danger to even the whole village. So they must leave,” said a villager.
Meanwhile Charles has been charged to court. The school authority said it has been bearing the cost of prosecuting him alone even though it has involved the local government council in the matter.
Charles was charged to court on grounds of constituting public nuisance and using criminal charm.
