For fear of Sit-At-Home enforcers, village schools shun WAEC’s mathematics — but others in the metropolis write exam in Imo

There are indications that not a few secondary schools in Owerri, the Imo State capital devised means for their graduating students to write their West African Examination Council (WAEC’s) examination scheduled for Thursday, 30th May.

This is against the backdrop of the incessant threats and fear-mongering in circulation especially from members of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) who wanted WAEC and the school managements to call off the examination for Thursday because of the annual Heroes Day anniversary of the group in honour of Biafran Patriots who died during the Nigeria-Biafra war.

While some schools in Owerri wore their outing wear to school instead of their regular school uniforms, others advised their students to dress in mufti clothes or anything that does not suggest their going to school.

As a result most the schools (names withheld) wrote their examinations, though under slight tension, but without any drama or disruptive incidents from any quarters.

For safety and reassurance, the Imo Police command deployed combat-ready operatives to most of the school while an all-day show-of-force with aerial coverage took place all through the work hours of the day.

The command reassuringly positioned tough-looking operatives armed to the teeth at all the supposed flashpoints and strategic locations in the state capital in what the command calls visibility policing.

While the measures devised by schools in the Owerri metropolis may have worked, most schools in the suburbs and rural communities could not hold their examination for fear of reprisals from enforcers of the sit-at-home.

It was under similar circumstance that hoodlums enforcing sit-at-home forced the students and teachers of Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkume in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State, to stop the English examination for the West Africa Examination Council, WAEC, in 2021.

The hoodlums shot sporadically into the air chased out the examiners and students and set ablaze eight motorcycles apparently owned by teachers of the school.