The Advisory Board of Dowen College has stated that it is awaiting a directive from the Lagos State government before it announces its resumption date following controversies trailing the death of 12-year-old, Sylvester Oromoni.
A member of the Advisory Board, Folarin Shobo, said this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, on Monday.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that the deceased’s cousin, Perry Oromoni, has taken to social media to alleged that some senior pupils of the college beat him up in his hostel room for refusing to join a cult.
But the school denied the claim, stating that the boy complained of pain in his legs and hip following an injury he sustained while playing football.
The Lagos State Government shut down the school indefinitely to ensure thorough investigation.
In response to a question on resumption, Shobo said, “The government is keenly interested in the case, so we are bound by the decision of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, the supervisory ministry. We are waiting for them to do the needful.”
Shobo also noted that the advisory board has reviewed all the incidents and records of the case, and is mourning the unfortunate loss of their student.
“We are not here to argue with the family, we are also mourning. The school, his teachers and his classmates are all mourning the loss of a bright young man. He was a boy that was full of great potentials,” he said.
Shobo urged members of the public to engage the Oromoni case solely on the facts instead of what he described as “emotions” and “sentiments”.
He referred to the official autopsy reports presented by medical experts in Lagos and Warri, which the Nigerian Police Force has also engaged as “scientific evidence” to the case.
Meanwhile, the advisory board member asserted that the school management followed laid down rules by informing Oromoni’s parents of his health complaints in the clinic and handing him over to his guardian who reportedly took him to Warri by road.
“Anything could have happened on the road, but we handed him over to his guardian (not his father or mother) who took him to Warri by road,” he said.
When engaging the moderators on the related case of bullying, Shobo further asserted that “it is one of the cardinal rules of Dowen. We don’t condone bullying. Once there is a report, the bully will be dismissed from the school, but as at the time the boy left the school, bullying was not at play.”
The advisory board member lamented that the case seem to have cast a blemish on all the great contributions the school had invested in the nation.
“The school does not condone any immoral infraction. The school is 25 years old, and it has raised generations for this nation,” he said.
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