Proprietress allegedly orders headmaster arrested for resigning to start own school
When Mr John Agbaje quit his job as headmaster of Ruby Gold Nursery and Primary School, Jakande in Lekki, Lagos, he never knew his decision to “move forward in life” would land him in police detention.
Agbaje resigned on Friday July 29 and was at his former boss’ house the following Sunday to thank her for her support. He worked with her for eight years.
Last Friday (August 5), Agbaje had barely gotten out of bed when someone knocked on his door. It was the police and they were accompanied by Mrs Rita Wogu, Agbaje’s former boss who now seemed angry the “face of our school” may join the competition.
“We just woke up and were doing our morning prayer when the police came in,” Mrs Mary Agbaje told NewsroomNG.
“They told my husband he was under arrest for stealing N5 million and some books from Ruby Gold School. They searched the house with the help of Mrs Wogu who found some books she said belonged to her school. She said Agbaje took the books without permission and failed to hand them over to the school after quitting his job.
“She shouted at one of the police officers to handcuff my husband because according to her he’s a criminal,” she said.
Our correspondent gathered that Mrs Wogu used police officers from Yaba State CIID in Adekunle (Panti) to effect the arrest. Mrs Agbaje went to the police station in her area to find out if they received any official notification an arrest would be made in the area. She said the police told her they we not notified. Under police protocol, officers from external police stations ought to make such notification, a police source told us.
Mr Agbaje was detained at Panti on Friday and wasn’t let go until Monday when he had signed an undertaking to bow to Mrs Wogu’s wishes, we gathered.
“I used the police here because we didn’t trust the local police at Jakande to do the job,” Mrs Wogu told our correspondent who was at Panti on Monday.
Police investigation later revealed Agbaje never stole N5 million from the school, Mrs Wogu told us.
“But some money was involved,” the proprietress said. When we asked how much money was involved, she declined to comment. But she said Agbaje had collected the money from parents and didn’t remit it to the school’s accountant.
After Agbaje was released, he told our correspondent the said money was N7,000 but insisted he never stole it from the school. He said he was going to turn the money in as he still enjoyed a good relationship with Mrs Wogu.
“The woman has been good to me because of how hardworking I’ve been these eight years,” Agbaje said. He said many parents have come to identify him as the face of the school something Mrs Wogu confirmed to our correspondent.
But the Ruby Gold School owner told NewsroomNG Agbaje is not as hardworking or smart as he claimed.
“We picked him from the gutters and raise him up and made him the face of the school,” Mrs Wogu said. “He’s an olodo (a dullard) and cannot succeed on his own and we told him this. His academic record is nothing to write home about. He can’t teach and he’s not intellectual. We just deployed him as a PR tool because parents would readily trust a married man who looked like a professor.”
“He stole our intellectual property and wanted to duplicate our school and that’s why we had to involve the police,” she said.
But Mrs Agbaje told us why, if her husband is a dullard as Mrs Wogu believed, she would not want him for a competition. Mrs Wogu argued it wouldn’t be right for someone who had been the face of her school to resign and establish his own school in the same area.
When Agbaje was taken to Panti on Friday, he had a meeting with the police and Mrs Wogu, a source told us. The school owner was allegedly asked what she wanted and she was said to have told Agbaje not to set up any school within Jakande and environs.
Agbaje allegedly said he couldn’t make that decision without his wife’s consent. When the family said they would go ahead and start their school in the area, Agbaje was locked in one of the cells till he allegedly agreed to Mrs Wogu’s “wishes” after hunger, bedbugs and other “Panti attackers” dealt him trauma.
A police officer allegedly accused Mrs Agbaje of influencing her husband’s decision to start his own school. Mrs Wogu was also said to have labelled Mrs Agbaje the “witch behind it all”.
We gathered Mrs Agbaje was in charge of her mother’s school before marrying Agnaje two years ago. Mrs Wogu allegedly opposed the marriage for fears Agbaje could go solo with the help of his bride. That may still happen but only if Mr Agbaje move elsewhere, it now appears.
Our correspondent was at Panti on Monday night when Agbaje signed a memorandum of understanding to never set up a school within Jakande and environs. A source told us that’s what Mrs Wogu wanted all along.
Another source at Jakande told NewsroomNG Mrs Wogu was in the habit of using Panti police officers to intimidate, harass and oppress “business enemies”.
“She warned school owners in the area never to use colours red, yello, black and white on their uniforms saying the colours were hers alone,” the source told us.
“When one proprietress in the area changed her school uniform’s tie to red, Mrs Wogu locked her up in Panti for about one week.
“After the woman regained her freedom, Mrs Wogu saw her one day and greeted her but the woman responded by saying she didn’t want to have anything to do with someone who used the police to harass her.
“Mrs Wogu then ordered the police to arrest the woman again saying she was a threat to her life,” the source said.
Our police source refused to confirm the claims. But the police source said Mrs Wogu has “solid connection” at Panti police station.
Mr Agbaje said he had turned his own case over to God and “I will succeed anywhere by God’s grace”..
