Abuja, May 19 (IANS): Three persons, 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, police said.

Investigators found evidence that pupils were being flogged by a teacher in front of their school in the remote town of Ayetoro in Ogun state.

Photographs showed a Nigerian boy tied to a cross for coming late to the private school on May 16, CNN reported.

"They were tied to a wooden tree made to look like a crucifix when a policeman on patrol saw them. When the principal and the school proprietor were requested to untie them. they refused.

"They even beat one of the people who intervened," Abimbola Oyeyemi, Ogun State police spokesman told CNN.

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.

The school authorities could not be immediately reached for comments, CNN said.

Corporal punishment is a common form of discipline in many Nigerian schools despite increasing evidence of its negative outcomes on children.

Nigeria is not among the 60 countries states and territories that have banned its use against children though internationals organisations are calling for it to be outlawed.

The UN children agency estimates that around 300 million children aged two to four receive some form of physical discipline from their parents or caregivers on a regular basis.