Before relocating to the UK, Mr. Bepo wanted to settle a serious conflict between two families in his school that had lasted for three years. The problem started during the school’s prefectship elections.

In Stardom Schools, students who wanted to contest for prefect positions had to buy forms:

• ₦50,000 for Head Boy or Head Girl,
• ₦40,000 for deputies,
• ₦25,000 for other positions.

After buying the forms, candidates were screened to ensure they were good students academically, morally upright, and able to communicate well. Their names were pasted on the notice board for two weeks before the Speech Day, where they addressed the whole school. The elections were held the following day.

On one particular Speech Day, something bad happened. Banky, an SS2 student contesting for Social Prefect, insulted his opponent Tosh during his speech. He told students: “Instead of voting for the son of an ex-convict, vote for me. You will never regret it.”

The whole hall was shocked. Tosh, also in SS2, walked out angrily. Their rivalry had started back in JSS3, and now their parents also got involved. The insult turned into a court case.

The truth was that Tosh’s father, Chief Ogba, was not an ex-convict. He had been detained for 36 months over a ₦2.5 billion government contract scandal. After five years, the case ended, and he was only asked to refund the money, not jailed as a convict.

Chief Ogba demanded that Banky and his parents write a public apology and publish it in the school magazine. But Banky’s parents refused, which worsened the fight.

At the same time, Bepo was also worried about leaving behind the school’s Invention Club. The students had created an exciting project called the Breath Project, where they built phones using recycled panels and chips. The project had already attracted media and government interest. Bepo feared that if he left Nigeria, the project might collapse. He promised that, even if he relocated, he would return from the UK to support the launch.