The management of Great Kezino Nursery and Main School, Ikorodu, Lagos, has refuted claims made in a viral TikTok video by a former teacher, Rukayat Tobiloba, who declared that a court means to jail her over a defilement case.
The school clarified that Tobiloba was not charged with defilement but was arraigned alongside another team member for alleged negligence following a 2021 incident involving 2 nursery pupils.
In the commonly flowed video, Tobiloba rejected misdeed and declared she was being unfairly targeted. The video, which got traction on social media, was also aired on Arise TV on March 7, 2026, where she interested Lagos State Guv, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to intervene in the matter.
Reacting to the development, the school management said the narrative being distributed by the former instructor did not properly reflect the facts of the case.
Talking with journalists, the Head Instructor of the school, Mrs Toyin Edaolaropin, stated examinations conducted after the event led to the arraignment of Tobiloba and an assistant instructor, Mrs Rukayat Lawal, for carelessness.
Edaolaropin explained that Tobiloba was employed as a Nursery One class teacher on September 13, 2021, while Lawal served as the assistant teacher in the same class.
According to her, a pupil recognized as Victim A was enrolled in the class on September 20, 2021, bringing the number of students in the class to about 15.
She stated the incident emerged on October 26, 2021, after the student had actually been dropped off in the house by the school bus.
“Victim A was taken home on the school bus after closing hours and turned over to her dad at about 4:30 p.m. Later on that night, the student’s mom apparently called the instructor, claiming that her child sobbed while bathing and declared that a male classmate, Victim B, had placed a pencil into her private part throughout school hours,” Edaolaropin said.
She said the school right away declined the claims, insisting that no such occurrence took place while the kid was under the school’s supervision.
“The following early morning, the teacher checked out the pupil’s home, where the father apparently denied the mother’s account of the incident,” she included.
The head teacher said the matter escalated later that day when the parents arrived at the school with officers from the Imota Police headquarters and demanded that the alleged male classmate be produced.
According to her, the authorities were surprised to discover that the implicated student had to do with three years old.
She said the police directed school authorities to report to the station for examination and consequently transferred the case to another formation for more queries.
“Both the class instructor and the assistant teacher were later arraigned for neglect,” Edaolaropin stated.
She noted that the case is still pending in court and is presently waiting for a review of legal advice from the office of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
Edaolaropin likewise maintained that the school at first supported Tobiloba throughout the early stages of the case and even engaged a lawyer to represent her.
“Contrary to Tobiloba’s numerous defamatory stories on both social and conventional media, the school stood securely with her from the start of her experience,” she said.
According to her, the school employed an attorney who quickly secured bail for the teacher to avoid her from being remanded in custody.
“Employee who had actually never known her before even stood as guarantors,” she added.
She stated Tobiloba had worked with the school for only six weeks before the incident took place and left the school about 2 weeks after returning from the police headquarters.
“She later transferred to a neighbouring school, but we continued to support her. We invested significant quantities on litigation for nearly four years since we believed nothing happened to the supposed victim while in the school’s custody,” she stated.
The head instructor included that the school likewise provided for Tobiloba’s feeding, transport and general well-being whenever she appeared in court.
“On each court day, the school catered for her feeding, transportation and basic wellness, and she was never alone as at least four people accompanied her to court at the school’s expenditure,” she stated.
Edaolaropin further revealed that the assistant teacher associated with the case was discharged by the court after about a year of lawsuits.
She said the school’s legal representative later wrote to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions asking for a review of the report indicting Tobiloba, while the instructor likewise helped with a committee hearing at the Lagos State Home of Assembly.
However, the head teacher alleged that Tobiloba later ended up being hesitant to go to court proceedings.
“She last appeared in court on November 10, 2023, after which the case was adjourned to March 5, 2024,” she said.
According to her, the teacher later on informed the school that she was pregnant, triggering the court to adjourn the matter to August 5, 2024.
Edaolaropin said that when she contacted Tobiloba on July 22, 2024, to remind her of the court date, the teacher apparently said she had actually moved to Ibadan and was no longer thinking about the case.
“She conveyed her loss of interest in the matter in a message sent out to me, stating that she had moved to Ibadan and would not be readily available for more court procedures,” she stated.
She included that the school’s legal representative secured another adjournment to February 5, 2025, and interacted the date to her, but she allegedly stopped responding to calls and messages.
According to Edaolaropin, the court later on issued a bench warrant for Tobiloba’s arrest after she consistently failed to appear in court.
“She was eventually detained and remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre on March 10, 2025, after jumping bail for numerous months,” she said.
Edaolaropin said that after her arrest, Tobiloba notified the court that she was no longer interested in the services of the attorney engaged by the school and presented another legal representative to represent her.
“At that point, the school had no alternative but to allow her to handle the case in the method she deemed fit,” she included.
She kept in mind that the school only ended up being conscious of the teacher’s recent allegations when the viral videos surfaced online.
News Source: Punch