The Ekiti State Internal Revenue Service (EKIRS), has denied locking up pupils when its officials sealed off a private Nursery and Primary school in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday over alleged tax evasion.

A viral video on Wednesday showed a chained gate of a school with pupils locked inside the school compound. A woman was heard complaining that access to the schools have been blocked with students trapped inside.

The Chairman of the Service, Olumuyiwa Ogunmilade however refuted the claims in the video in a statement on Friday in Ekiti.

“EKIRS will like to state categorically that the insinuations in the viral video are untrue and not consistent with facts about the matter,” he said.

”On Wednesday, February 17, in accordance with the law and due process, the enforcement officers sealed off and locked the main gate of the premises of the school, due to non-compliance of the school authorities with their tax obligations.”

He said that the pedestrian gate of the school was, however, left open for free flow of human traffic, while vehicular traffic was cut-off.

“The referenced video surreptitiously avoided showing the open pedestrian gate of the school – a fact that has been corroborated by many parents and staff of the school.

Mr. Ogunmilade said the version of the incident being circulated by the media was exaggerated to attract public outcry and sympathy.

”Why should we lock up innocent children and make them suffer unjustly, as being insinuated in some quarters?” He said.