How Abuja School Covered up Death of 15-year-old Blind Student

How Abuja School Covered up Death of 15-year-old Blind Student

Adedayo Akinwale ín Abuja

The death of 15-year-old Joshua, a student of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) School for the Blind in Abuja may have been covered up by the school authority, THISDAY can authoritatively report.

The school, which has been in the news for wrong reasons, has two of its teachers suspended for allegedly molesting blind students.

The incident prompted the Permanent Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Mr. Chinyeaka Ohaa, to pay an unscheduled visit to school, where he directed the immediate suspension of Mr. Ilo Chukwuma and Ebenezer Olateju, for allegedly molesting female students of the school pending the conclusion of investigations on the matter.

Meanwhile, THISDAY gathered yesterday that last Saturday, a 15-year-old Joshua fell from a double bunk in the school, which led to severe bleeding from the nose and mouth due to an internal wound that was not attended to by the school authority.

It was also gathered that after he fell from the double bunk, his fellow blind students helped him by pouring water on his head to see if the headache would subside, unknown to them that there was an internal bleeding as a result of the injury he sustained.

Prior to the incident, THISDAY learnt that the Head Teacher of the school, Mr. Rasak Ademola, had barred all the students from seeing the school nurse, allegedly because he wanted whatever that’s happening in the  school to be concealed.

A reliable source, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed to THISDAY in a telephone interview that it was true the boy died and the school authority was trying to cover it up.

“The truth is that a boy died in our school this evening (Saturday) and they are trying to cover up. If not for their negligence this would not have happened. Immediately school resumed, the children were told not to see the nurse at any time, not even for treatment.

“In the school, when somebody is sick and is being treated in the hospital, the school used to record it, isn’t t? So, where are the records to show that they were treating him? Even in the school clinic, there is a book where they record that somebody is sick.

“But in this case, there was no treatment of such because it didn’t happen. It was never recorded. The boy fell from a double bunk on Saturday morning and the students had been barred from seeing the nurse by the Head Teacher, Mr. Rasak Ademola.

“When this thing happened, even if you barred students from seeing the nurse, what about the three matrons that were sleeping there? There are three matrons that were supposed to be sleeping there. Why could they not run to the Head Teacher that a serious accident just occurred? I believe that for that boy to be bleeding from nose and mouth even after he died, there was an internal bleeding that was not attended to. Even up till the time the corpse was taking to the mortuary, he was still bleeding,” the source said.

Asked why Ademola barred the students from seeing the nurse whenever they are sick, the source added: “he barred them from going to the nurse because he believed they used to go there and gossip about things that take place in the school, which he would not want anybody to know. The students might tell the nurse.”

The source said: “He (Ademola) is now telling everyone a lie that the boy had been ill for a long time and that he had spent a lot of money before he died today (Saturday).”

Meanwhile, a concerned parent, Sylvia Odey, who described the incident has unfortunate, has vowed to take up the matter with the school authority.

She lamented that the boy died due to negligence on the part of the school authority.

According to her, “One of the blind students died yesterday due to negligence. He was sick and they refused him to see a nurse or doctor.”

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