The Lagos State Government on Friday ordered the indefinite closure of Dowen College, Lekki, following investigations into the death of Sylvester Oromoni, a student of the school.
In a statement, Assistant Director, Public Affairs, of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, Ganiu Lawal said: “The Lagos State Government has ordered the indefinite closure of Dowen College, Lekki, pending the outcome of an investigation into the death of Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, a student of the school.
“Commissioner for Education Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo announced the closure after a meeting with the School Management and Staff.
“The Commissioner called for calm, saying no effort will be spared in getting to the root of the incident.”
The death of the 12-year-old student Oromoni Jnr. Has sparked outrage as reports emerged that contrary to the position of the school that he died as a result of injuries sustained in the football school, Oromoni was bullied and beaten by fellow students.
Meanwhile, Dowen College, in an email sent to parents early Friday morning, stated that students should not come to school on Friday, 3rd December and Monday, 6th December because of the incident.
The supposed injuries from the beating led to his death, according to a Twitter user with the handle @perrisonoromoni, who claimed to be the boy’s cousin, had nothing to do with football field incident but that he was beaten to a pulp by the cult boys who he identified before he died.
And as the controversy over the death becomes more curious, two of the students, whose names were mentioned by Sylvester before his death as the perpetrators, have been flown out of the country by their parents.
Dowen College had in a statement on Wednesday denied all allegations, stating that Oromoni was neither bullied nor beaten but only complained of hip pain after playing football.
The school denied any existence of a cult group, insisting that Sylvester Junior injured his hip while playing football and, after initially administering first aid, his family was called to pick him.
The child’s father, who bears the same name as the student, stated that contrary to what Dowen College had said in the statement, the family friend who they sent to pick up Oromoni Jnr. from the school described a totally different situation.
The bereaved father stated that his son was bullied and beaten to stupor as he said, “The next day, we sent a family friend to help pick up our son since he was the only person in Lagos and take him to the hospital. When he got there, he panicked, pointing out that he doubts it’s a football injury as the school claimed.
“My son suffered. The boys they mentioned were also reported to the school last term when they bullied Junior and collected all his foodstuffs; clothes. I have two daughters, one of whom earlier graduated. I had to remove the second after this incident. They asked this boy to describe the sister’s privates and this got to us.”
The grieving father revealed that Junior told his mum that he didn’t play football, neither did he fall. Thus, countering the school’s claim that he got injured while playing football.
Speaking further, Mr Sylvester said, “They kicked him, matched his waist. Other students ran off. They threatened to kill them all if they spoke a word to the school staff. They warned Junior to say he sustained injuries while playing ball. They threatened him. If you ask the roommate, they’d all lie. They matched his ribs and waist. All that pain for a 12-year-old,” he said, trailing off into a soft sob over the phone.
He said Junior suffered liver enlargement due to congealed blood. It was also claimed that Junior was fed with a chemical-like liquid substance for refusing to join the cult.
“The parents of the boys are wealthy. They withdrew them. Some of the parents are planning to fly the children out of the country. The boys are five in number: four are in SS2 while one is in SS1,” he added.
