Parents, pupils and students of NINLAN Nursery and Primary School (NNPS) and the NINLAN Demonstration Secondary School (NDSS) were greeted with the shock of their lives yesterday as the management drove many pupils and students’ home over fees.

In a similar development, the Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of the school, Dr Chidi Emelike, was arrested by the police on the school premises when he tried with other PTA members to calmly control the situation that saw pupils and students roaming about the very busy New Umuahia Road, Ogbor-Hill, Aba.

When New Telegraph got to the scene and made an effort to reach Emelike, most of the parents said that he was still with the police at Umuobiakwa Division in Obingwa Council Area. Efforts to reach out to the principal and headmistress of the two schools were resisted by policemen stationed at the gate.

However, the Executive Director of the National Institute of Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Prof Ogbonna Onuoha, who said he was not aware of the arrest of the PTA chairman by the police, remarked he got a message that the PTA circulated to the parents to storm the gate of the institution with their children and wards.

He stated that the schools were on a fees drive and accused Emelike of inciting the parents not to pay the newly increased school fees. Recall that a few weeks ago, New Telegraph reported that the PTA of the NNPS and the NDSC were on a warpath over what the PTA described as an exorbitant increment, accusing the management led by Prof Onuoha of making life difficult for them.

From facts gathered on the ground today, it was clear that the PTA and the school management could not reach an agreement on the contentious fees, like “Caution Fees, Hotel Fees, Medical Fees and the controversial Other Fees” listed.