Dowen College: Time to ask critical questions (1)

The parents of late Sylvester Oromoni’s deserve the sympathy and kindness of the Nigerian people. The world needs to know the facts and the truths of this case. We need to know who is lying and who is actually liable.

A range of key questions pops up as objectivity scans available details of the sad and unfortunate experience. It is pertinent to confirm if late Sylvester actually played soccer (football) with his friends. The authorities of Dowen College say he did.

• Who are the boys he played football with? Have the boys been identified by the school authorities? If yes, where are they?

Interestingly, a student of the school is said to have admitted that he was the person who collided with Sylvester in the course of the soccer game.

• Who was this particular boy? What is his name? Where is he?

Late Sylvester is said to have visited the school’s medical facility for medical attention. As one probes this case deeper, the need to investigate this aspect of the widely circulating story about the sad incident stands out.

Sylvester Oromoni Junior is said to have been bullied (gang-beaten) by a group of senior students, and that he mentioned the names of the seniors before his sudden and painful passing.

• Were there bruises or injuries on late Sylvester’s body suggesting that he was gang-beaten?
• What about his sore lips? We hear the gang that beat him forced a substance down his throat.

Going by the story that a substance was forced into late Sylvester’s throat after the gang-beating, it goes to say that there was a struggle in the process – Sylvester resisted!

• Did the struggle cause part of the substance to spill on any part of his body other than his lips?
• Was there or is there any such sign on Sylvester’s body suggesting a spill of the corrosive substance?

A credible, non-biased autopsy is capable of answering this particular question and more, in relation to the substance that was said to have been forced into his guts.

In addition, the general public was told that the authorities of Dowen College called Sylvester’s parents to come and take him home for medical attention. Nigerians need to know the name and location of the medical outfit that Sylvester’s parents took him to for medical attention.

• What was the finding of the medical outfit he was taken to?

We hear an X-ray was done on Sylvester based on the tough pains he said he was feeling in his waists and in other parts of his bone structure. According to Dowen College in its press release, late Sylvester’s guardian took him (Sylvester) for an X-ray and informed the management of the school that the result of the X-ray revealed that no part of his body was broken or injured.

• Where did the severe body pain that late Sylvester suffered before his death come from?
• What is the name of the medical outfit that conducted the X-ray on Sylvester?
• Where is it located?
• Does the medical outfit not owe this case and the general Nigerian public an explanation?

The medical facility that did the X-ray needs to tell the world its observations and findings independent of what late Sylvester’s guardian is said to have told the school authorities (of Dowen College).

This case should be made to serve as a deterrent to the ill-treatment of students in our schools. There is no gainsaying that the students lodged in the boarding facilities of Dowen College are a breathing testimony to the existence of a contract between the school and the students’ parents.

• Did late Sylvester lose his life to bullying? To remote complications from injuries incurred from a game of soccer? Or to some other action or inaction not yet told to the public?  

The facts and truths of this case deserve to be known. To be continued…

Smart Okotie Jnr, a public affairs commentator, wrote in from Lagos. He can be reached via [email protected]