Four students from Comboni Vocational Technical School were arrested for vandalizing Sogakope Senior High School.
The incident occurred on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at 1:00 AM. The main entrance glasses were shattered, and a classroom block’s mosquito nets were torched.
The Headmaster of SOGASCO confirmed the incident, and four students and four town folks were apprehended by the police.
“I want to assure you that the situation is now almost under control. The police and the NIB have made some arrests this morning.
The people who were responsible for the destruction have been identified, and four of them have been caught.
The others are still on the run. The four who have been caught are now helping the police with the investigation, along with four former students of the school who we believe were hired to assist in the destruction.
The damage was not limited to just the gate, but one of the classroom blocks was also destroyed,” the headmaster confirmed.
A student from SOGASCO fell sick and was taken to Comboni Hospital by an officer in the cadet. While at the hospital, the student stepped out to buy something for his colleague who was inside the yard.
However, three Comboni students accosted him, demanding that he tuck in his shirt. This incident was the beginning of the friction between the two schools.
Mr Dziedzoave shared that a student from SOOGASCO refused to tuck in his shirt when asked by another school’s senior.
The student declined, stating that he was also a senior in another school and they had no authority to ask him to tuck in. However, the senior threatened to beat him up if he did not comply.
Fearing for his safety, the student knelt and the seniors took videos of him. Later, these videos were posted on their platform, boasting that they had conquered SOGASCO.
This provoked the SOGASCO student body, and on 6th March 2024, during the independence anniversary parade, they asked the seniors to tuck in their shirts. However, the seniors refused to comply.
The headmaster indicated that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
“So that brought about an exchange. They were throwing stones here and there. And so one of the drivers from Convotech got injured during the process.”
Mr Dziedzoave explained further that even though they could not establish who hit the driver with the stone, they decided to send him to the hospital for medical attention.
However, when the driver was discharged, they took him to the Campus of Comboni only for him to be attacked again by the students.
“So on Thursday, the driver was discharged. We sent him to his campus. When they realized that we were coming from SOGASCO, they started throwing stones at the vehicle, which we reported to the police and their principal. And this morning, this is what they have done to us again.”
Joy News sources within the Sogakope District Police command say the four are still in police custody assisting investigation. A District Security Council (DISEC) meeting is scheduled on Monday, March 11, 2024, to address the issue. Meanwhile, some students of SOGASCO have told Joy News they are living in fear.
But a former National President of the SOGASCO Old Students Association (SOSA), and an aspiring Member of Parliament on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the South Tongu Constituency, Maxwell Lukutor, has assured that he would help mediate to find lasting peace between the two schools.
