A 15-year-old student of Army Dat Secondary school, Imo state, Queendaline Ekezie collapsed and died after she was allegedly forced to do frog match by two soldiers in her school for coming late. Her father, Hyginus, on hearing the news, passed out and was rushed to a hospital in the community for treatment.
Speaking to Punch, a friend of Queendaline, Miss Aguocha who was present when the incident happened said;
“On that day, we had set out at 7am. We waited for a motorcycle to take us to school till it was 8am. When we became frustrated, we decided to board a commercial cab. But the driver did not leave the motor park until the car was filled with passengers.
When we got to school at 9am, we met three sets of late comers on the ground. Two soldiers were asking each set to do frogmarch to a particular distance after which they picked their bags and entered their classes.
When it was our turn, we were about reaching the finishing line when they said we were not doing it right and we should start again. After we repeated it, we went to pick our school bags, but one of the soldiers said he was still not satisfied.
I completed the punishment the third time and I picked my bag and left. I suddenly discovered that my friend was not with me. When I returned to the place, I saw her crying. She started vomiting the food she ate that morning. She was saying, ‘my back, my chest.’ The soldiers were just staring at us.
She added that while the 15-year-old groaned with pain, a teacher who was just arriving in the school, observed her and asked if she had been sick before the time.
Aguocha said she insisted that her friend was healthy, adding that the school principal, who also later arrived, joined in examining her.
The victim was allegedly taken to the hospital in the principal's car. She was given an injection and then put on a drip.
“After they put on the drip, she started vomiting blood. Blood was spurting out of her nostrils, mouth and ears. I called the teacher to inform her and she alerted a nurse who said her condition had worsened”
The victim’s sister, Immaculate, a Senior Secondary School 3 pupil in the school, said her sister was not given adequate medical attention which contributed to her death.
Reacting to the incident, the 82 Division’s spokesman and Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa, said it would be premature to comment on the incident as the Imo State Ministry of Education had planned to issue a statement on it on Thursday
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