The #EndBadGovernance nationwide demonstrations, which started on 1 August and have been designated to last for 10 days dragged out all sorts of personalities to the streets and one of such was a former teacher sacked at a school reportedly with links to Nigeria’s immediate past Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

A viral social media video has revealed beverage hawker Ms Folake Olaleye alleging her unjust sacking by Liberty School in Lagos, which allows free attendance for students whose parents do not have the financial wherewithal to accommodate their educational needs.

The clip posted on the X platform three days ago shows Ms Olaleye around a crowd of protesters and making it known how President Bola Tinubu’s residency hasn’t favoured her and the children she has.

My child also is hawking. We are suffering. Even to register her in public schools, they will demand N20,000, and we thought public schools were free but it is no longer so, says the sacked school teacher.

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Her dismissal by the school, reportedly over her teaching incompetencies, meant that she could also not gain access to a saved pension, further leading to her life taking a spin for the worse. We have not seen anything that President Tinubu has done, Ms Olaleye declared. Help us to beg him. I am suffering and my children are also suffering.

She told reporters covering the protests that she was a qualified teacher. I have NCE. I’m a graduate of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education.

I’ve taught at Yemi Osinbajo’s Free Liberty School, Ajah before. It was when Osinbajo won the second term that one Pastor Ngozi at Olive Tree Parish Redeem, sacked all the teachers and put her own people there.

Since then, it has affected me. Even my pension is still there. I am also pleading to Osinbajo to pity me and go and settle it out. I need my pension.

Watching the former teacher speak about her misfortunes has inspired sympathy from a general population of Nigerians tweeting via their X profile timelines.

Some directed blame at the previous Vice President and likened the situation to another example of oppression by the high and mighty. All over Nigeria since demonstrations began five days ago, the anger has only kept rising. People are unhappy over the steep prices of food, transportation and other necessities.

Due to the public’s attention given to Ms Folake Olaleye’s plight, the Liberty School Management Team was forced to respond. A statement by the institution revealed that the termination of her employment in 2020 was performed with strict adherence to due process.

Notwithstanding the authenticity of the act carried out to improve the school’s output, the management has decided on an intervention based on compassionate grounds.

In addressing Ms Olaleye’s pension, while the scheme has specific age and eligibility conditions for access, both the School and the Church are committed to providing compassionate financial assistance, the statement from the primary school partly reads.

Also added in the release was the institution’s pledge to ensure that Ms Olaleye receives, at a minimum, an amount equivalent to what she would have been entitled to under the pension scheme had she met the eligibility requirements. Our goal is to resolve all matters in a respectful, dignified, and amicable manner.

It is also important to state that Ms Olaleye’s children attended the school and benefited from the school’s free services, including free education, free books, and free school meals until she chose to withdraw them voluntarily. We are committed to exploring ways to provide further educational opportunities for her children.

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Meiza Nigeria