A Chief Magistrate Court in Mapo, Ibadan, on Tuesday handed down a three-month community service sentence to 18-year-old Fawaz Hamzat, a student of Olunde Community Secondary School.
Hamzat admitted chasing a rival student from Olunde Grammar School with a cutlass during an interschool dispute.
Presiding over the case, Magistrate Mrs. O.O. Latunji said she convicted Hamzat based on his guilty plea and the evidence presented by the prosecution. “I have considered the facts and the defendant’s admission.
However, to serve as a deterrent to others, Hamzat is sentenced to three months of community service,” she declared. The magistrate also cautioned the youth to refrain from further criminal behavior, warning that any future offense would attract a harsher punishment.
The state’s prosecuting counsel, Inspector Oluseye Akinola, told the court that on May 22, around 3:00 p.m., Hamzat was spotted in the Olunde area of Ibadan wielding a cutlass and chasing students from the neighbouring Olunde Grammar School.
A neighbourhood security officer, together with concerned community members, intervened and apprehended him. Akinola argued that Hamzat’s actions violated Section 249 of the Criminal Code Cap 38 Vol. II Law of Oyo State, 2000, which prohibits carrying dangerous weapons with intent to harm.
POLITICS NIGERIA learned that interschool rivalry leading to exchange of dangerous weapons was common especially among secondary schools in the less city areas of Ibadan.
The rivalry was beginning to rear its ugly head again as was the case decades ago.