Charity Obisco, a trader, recounts her traumatic experience to GRACE EDEMA, revealing how her daughter was blinded in her left eye while in school and the subsequent arrest of her husband by the school for complaining about the incident
How did your daughter lose her left eye?
Last year, I took my children to school on 11th October 2024. When I arrived, the headmistress and other teachers were at the gate. I paid for their food and other necessities before heading back home. Later, I realised that 11th October was the International Day of the Girl Child. I mentioned it to my neighbour and said, “Today is the perfect day to celebrate my twins.”
Is your daughter a twin?
Yes.
Wow! Are they both girls?
Yes, they are both girls, and they are very identical. You can hardly tell them apart. As I was telling my neighbour that I would celebrate my twins that day, I received a call from their school at around 11 a.m. They had called my husband first.
The teacher told him that Ejima had been injured in her eye. Shocked, he asked what had happened, and they said someone had stabbed her. My husband was in disbelief, saying, ‘That can’t be my child. How did this happen?’ But they couldn’t give a clear answer. They only told him to meet them at the school hospital.
Still in shock, my husband repeated, ‘It can’t be my child.’ About 30 minutes later, they called again, asking why we hadn’t arrived yet. At that moment, my husband had a customer in his shop, so he called me over. When I got there, he explained everything to me. The customer overheard and told him, ‘If you can’t go, at least let your wife go immediately.’
What happened thereafter?
At first, I thought they were talking about my first son because he usually gets into trouble. So, I called his teacher to confirm, but the teacher assured me it wasn’t him. Everyone knew that my twins were gentle and quiet. They never caused trouble. If they wanted to play, they would only play with each other.
I was shocked when my husband mentioned our daughter. I told him, ‘I must go there now!’ He agreed, and I quickly took a tricycle to the hospital. When I arrived, they told me they had already treated her eye. But when I saw her, I couldn’t see the eye anymore; it was completely covered.
I asked where she was being treated, and they told me it was at the Mother and Child Hospital in Mushin. I couldn’t remember the exact location now, but I knew it was a hospital meant for pregnant women and children. When I saw her, I screamed in horror. The sight of her injured eye made people at the hospital gather around us.
How did you react?
Yes, I was shouting and crying. People in the hospital gathered around me. I kept repeating, ‘Again? Again?’ because this wasn’t the first time something terrible had happened to my child. My first son had already been bitten on the face by another student before. Yes, that’s another case. He was bitten on his face.
Who did that?
A fellow pupil did so in a primary school. My son was in Primary 2 at the time.
What class are the twins now and what is their age?
They are in Nursery 2 and they are four years old. As I kept shouting, more people gathered. Some of them told me to stop crying and focus on ensuring my daughter received proper medical treatment.
When I asked the nurse what had been done, she said they had already referred us to either LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital) or LASUTH (Lagos State University Teaching Hospital). They insisted I take my daughter for proper treatment first before anything else.
I then asked someone, ‘Which hospital do you think is better for us to go to?’ He told me that LUTH might not attend to us quickly, but this was an urgent case. He advised me to go to LASUTH because they would respond faster.
There was also a woman at the hospital, the one whose child was accused of doing this. She had arrived before me. She then called an Uber for us. We took the Uber to LASUTH in Ikeja. The moment we arrived, the doctors examined my daughter’s eye. After checking, the doctor looked at me, shook his head, and said, ‘Madam, I’m sorry, but your daughter will not be able to see with this eye again.’
I was in shock. I asked, ‘What do you mean?’ He explained that the part of the eye that transmits light to the brain had already been damaged beyond repair.
I screamed, ‘Jesus!’ I immediately called the woman whose child was accused and the nursery teacher. They needed to hear this because earlier, the headmistress had tried to convince me that it was a minor case and that my daughter would still be able to see. They told me that before bringing my daughter to the Mother and Child Hospital, they had already taken her to three other hospitals.
When we got there, the doctor repeated what he had said earlier, ‘She will never be able to see with this eye again. The part of the eye that transmits light has been completely damaged.’
However, they wanted to operate on the injured eye to prevent complications, ensuring the right eye wouldn’t be affected. Since the injury was on her left eye, I broke down in tears again, calling different people for help. Eventually, someone directed me to the military hospital in Yaba.
We took an Uber to Yaba Military Hospital. When we arrived there, the doctor examined her eye and said, ‘Madam, we cannot handle this. The damage is too severe.’
When we left the hospital, all the doctors had already gone. My husband called someone who usually sold medicine to him, and they sent us some phone numbers to contact. When we called, a few doctors returned and attended to us.
As soon as the doctor entered, he examined my daughter’s eye and said, ‘Madam, we cannot turn back time, but we will do our best. The link that transmits light to the eye has already been severed. We need to operate immediately.’
He explained that after two months, they would have to perform another surgery on the area where the pen pierced her eye. This second operation would determine whether she could regain her sight. However, he warned that the chances were only 50/50.
He asked, ‘Madam, can you sign the consent form? Because after the surgery, I don’t want you coming back to say that your child still can’t see.’ I immediately called my husband, and he told me to go ahead. I requested the necessary paperwork and signed it.
The operation took place on Friday, 12th October 2024. The school manager was present at the hospital, as well as the woman whose child was initially blamed for the incident. After that day, however, everything changed.
How?
For the first week after the surgery, some teachers visited us. Since the school has five branches, teachers from my children’s branch came around. But after two weeks, their visits stopped.
That was when the woman whose child was accused came to my house. She said, ‘Madam, you have children, just like I do. Please, go to the school and ask them to provide evidence so we can be sure of what happened.’
I told her I had already requested evidence, but the school refused to give me anything. She then told me, ‘I don’t understand why they won’t show proof, but I know my child is not capable of doing such a thing.’ Then she left.
By the third week, she returned and I asked her again, ‘Have they given you any evidence?’ She said no, and that since they refused to show her proof, she was removing herself from the matter.
Since then, from 11th October until now, that woman has never come to my house again. The school management, the teachers—no one has checked on us. Even the people I called personally later told me that the school management instructed them not to visit me anymore. So, I wouldn’t suspect them. And just like that, everyone disappeared.
Has the school been showing any concern since then?
The school sent people to me, demanding that I bring Ejima back. I asked them, ‘Have you even once asked how she is feeling? Whether she can see at all? Whether she is still taking medication or how we have been coping?’ Yet, they were only concerned about her returning to school.
That day, I was overwhelmed with anger. Many people were present, even those who had come to see the school owner. They all stood there, watching as I expressed my pain. I shouted, ‘My child lost her sight here, and yet, nothing, no concern, no help, nothing from you!’
Is there any update from the hospital?
On 20th October, we went to the hospital. The doctors advised that we get protective glasses for her right eye because if we were not careful, the damage might spread. The left eye, they said, was already beyond saving.
I asked the doctor, ‘So, does this mean she can never see with the left eye again?’ The doctor confirmed, ‘No, she won’t be able to see with it anymore.’
How do you feel after all of this?
My sister, I don’t know how to describe the pain I feel. This school, after all they did, has not cared to check on my daughter. Not even once. My husband went there on 7th January to ask if they had any plan to support her treatment, given that this happened under their care. But instead of addressing the issue, they called the police and had him arrested, claiming he was threatening them.
My husband’s arrest shocked our entire family. We didn’t even have money to take legal action. Meanwhile, the doctors said another surgery was needed, but they haven’t given us a date. Even if they perform the second surgery, they still cannot assure us that she will regain sight in that eye.
One of the doctors advised that if we had the means, we should take her to a specialist eye foundation or a hospital in Oshodi. But where is the money? My shop has been locked since this incident happened on 11th October. I used to sell small items, but now I cannot even provide for my children.
How is your daughter faring now?
Every day, my daughter cries and shouts, ‘My eyes, my eyes’ because tears constantly flow from the damaged eye. She cannot stay outside for long. If the sun comes out, she cries in pain, unable to open her eye.
We tried to report the case at the National Human Rights Commission, but they told us, ‘This girl’s case does not concern us.’ The school also dismissed us, saying it was not their responsibility. Instead, they shifted the blame and told us to go after the woman whose child they originally claimed injured my daughter.
But even my daughter herself later said it was not the boy they accused. She told me that it was her teacher who hurt her. She said the teacher was beating and abusing her with a pen, and in the process, the pen pierced her eye. Yet, that teacher is still working in the school.
At first, they told us one story: that another child stabbed her with a pen. But later, when my husband was arrested, they changed it and said it was during a fight. Then, when we got to Ikeja to report, they said a child was simply stretching his hand backward and mistakenly poked her in the eye. Their story kept changing.
Do you have anything to tell the Nigerian government and people?
I’m appealing to the government and the Nigerian people to intervene in this matter. I’m calling on the authorities to provide proper treatment for this young girl. I’m not seeking to quarrel with anyone; I just need help. My only desire is for her to regain her sight. She’s only four years old, along with her twin sibling. They’re still very young.
