Fear has gripped the entire Iguodala Primary School in the Uhunduhun Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State after pupils stumbled on a fresh ‘grave’ with sprinkles of blood in one of their classrooms after the morning assembly on Monday, May 4, 2015.
The pupils were said to have alerted their teachers before they subsequently fled the class room to the school gate.
The school’s head teacher, Georginia Ilongwo, calmed the school and ordered the Primary 1A, pupils where the ‘grave’ was dug, to move to another classroom before she called the attention of police officials from the Esigie Division.
Narrating the incident, the head teacher said, “After the pupils and teachers raised the alarm, people around trooped into the school premises.
“I informed the Odionwere community leaders, the Ministry of Education, the Nigeria Union of Teachers and the Parent-Teacher Association. All of them advised that we call the police.
“When policemen came, they said they would assess the scene today (Tuesday). We were all surprised because since I started teaching here, I have never experienced such a thing.”
She added that most of the pupils were absent from the school the following day being Tuesday, May 5, 2015 as a result of the strange discovery.
Police officials held the speculation that something or someone was buried in the grave, adding that they kept watch until some cemetery workers from the council came at about 11.40am.
According to Punch, the men were, however, stopped from further digging of the ‘grave’ by some health officials after they dug three feet into the ground.
The officials said there was no sign that a corpse had been buried at the site.
A Deputy Director in the Health and Environment Department of the council, Mr. Sylvester Usoboh, said, “We have removed the earth that was dug and got to the stronger part, an indication that no further digging was done, and nothing was found.
“Maybe the police may investigate further; but we did not find anything.”
The Divisional Police Officer, CSP Akeke Eni, assured the people that there was no cause for an alarm since the grave was an empty one.
He said, “It is an empty ‘grave’. It was initially suspected to contain something, but we have discovered that there is nothing inside.”
In reaction, some residents of the community made a Save Our Souls call to the government to reconstruct the school, which according to them had become a hideout for hoodlums for years.
