Teacher’s Costume As ‘Bandit’ Sends Students, Parents Running For Safety

Panic broke out on Wednesday at Ijaiye Ojokoro Junior College, Tigbetigbe Street, Ojokoro, Lagos State, after a teacher’s attempt to dramatise a banditry awareness lesson sparked a stampede across a school complex housing three schools.

The incident occurred during the state’s National Awareness Day, observed weekly in schools across Lagos to sensitise students on key social issues.

The theme for the day was banditry, and a teacher reportedly decided to make the session more realistic by dressing in a costume meant to represent a bandit.

The situation, however, escalated immediately the teacher arrived on campus.

“As soon as he stepped out of his vehicle and started walking towards the assembly ground, students began shouting ‘Bandits! Bandits!’,” a witness said, adding “Within seconds, everywhere became chaotic. People just started running.”

The panic quickly spread beyond the affected school to the other schools within the same complex, triggering a wider stampede involving students, teachers and support staff.

“Once the shouting started in one school, it moved to the others,” another witness said, and further disclosed “Even some teachers joined in the rush. Nobody stopped to confirm what was happening.”

Parents also rushed to the school complex in large numbers after receiving distress calls from their children and wards, many attempting to evacuate them immediately.

“My child called me crying that bandits had entered their school,” a parent said. “I didn’t wait for details. I just rushed there because of what is happening in the country.”

The panic also spilled into adjoining streets as residents reacted to the confusion, unsure whether a real attack was underway.

A principal in one of the schools, who asked not to be named, later confirmed that the incident was triggered by a misinterpreted demonstration, according to Tolani Abati, Journalist and Author whose works include ‘Two Decades Of Lagos Assembly: Face To Face With The Movers And Shakers’.

Abati shared the story in a social media post

“It was part of the awareness programme on banditry,” the principal said, and explained “A teacher tried to dramatise the topic by dressing like a bandit, but the students misunderstood the situation and it led to panic,” the author wrote.

Normalcy was eventually restored after school authorities intervened and accounted for students across the various schools in the complex according to the narrator.

The incident has since raised fresh concerns about safety protocols in school awareness programmes, particularly the use of live simulations for sensitive topics such as insecurity in Nigeria, where fear of bandit attacks remains widespread.