Story highlights Corporal punishment yet to be outlawed in Nigeria

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) Three people including a school principal have been arrested in Nigeria for allegedly tying two students to makeshift crucifixes and flogging them for coming late to school, a police spokesman told CNN.

The pupils were being flogged by a teacher in front of their school Wednesday morning in the remote town of Ayetoro, Ogun State, northwest of Lagos.

"They were tied to a wooden trees made to look like a crucifix when a policeman on patrol saw them. They told the principal and the school proprietor to untie them and they refused. They even beat one of the people who intervened," Abimbola Oyeyemi, Ogun State police spokesman told CNN.

A Nigerian boy was tied to a cross for coming late to a private school in Ayetoro, Ogun State, south-west Nigeria on April 16, 2018.

The state's police command said it was investigating the case and said the school's principal, owner, and a teacher have been charged with assault and intention to cause grievous bodily harm.

CNN could not immediately reach the school authorities for comments.