Concerned Nigerians protest, give govt seven days ultimatum to deregister college, suspects charged
Chiemelie Ezeobi
An Association of Dowen College Parents, on Wednesday, charged Nigerians to show empathy for the other students, especially friends and classmates of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni, who was said to have died from injuries sustained at the hands of five senior students of the school.
This is just as a group of concerned Nigerians, who staged a protest at the sealed gate of Dowen College, issued an ultimatum to the Lagos State government to de-register the school without further delay.
The Dowen Parents, while commiserating with the bereaved family, said the children are barely functioning as they are very traumatised that their friend might have died from bullying.
The statement read thus “The news of his demise is even more heartbreaking to us because not only was Sylvester a friend, classmate and roommate to some of our children who are deeply affected and traumatised by his death, there are also strong allegations pointing to the fact that his death came about as a result of bullying within the school.
“We as parents want justice for Sylvester. We stand against bullying and everything associated with it.
“To this end, we have come together to form a forum with one voice, engaging the school to grant the relevant authorities all necessary assistance in their investigations on the case.
“We are aware that the alleged perpetrators are currently being detained and questioned. The house masters, security and other persons linked with the case are also in police custody.
“We are hoping that the appropriate authorities will carry out all due diligence and ensure that the persons involved, if found guilty, be brought to book.
“We use this medium to seek the public’s empathy, and ask that they understand our position as parents of children who are currently students of the school. These children are being used as collateral damage.
“ There is no online schooling going-on, as some persons are making the public believe. The children were supposed to commence their exams on the 8th of December but all of that is on hold.
“Most of these children are in a state of trauma. They are hardly eating or sleeping. They lost a friend. They are scared that their friend may have died from bullying.
“ They are unsure of their own future, as the possibility of being stigmatised in the society as “Dowen Students” is something that is deeply worrying to them.
“ Some of these children are in their final year of school, their transcripts would be required to gain admission in higher institutions. All of these are in limbo right now.
“We have sub-committees within the Parents’ Forum, working with Government Agencies to organise one on one post-trauma and therapy sessions for the friends of late Sylvester.
“We re-iterate once again that we stand against bullying and all that is associated with it. And we hope that it’s existence will be eradicated from all our schools across board.”
Meanwhile, the protest drew together mothers and other concerned persons, who called for the arrest of the school owners and entire school management team down to the teachers and house masters.
Flaying the state government for not doing due diligence in the protection of school kids in the state, they charged the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, to act within seven days or they would lay siege on the school premises until their demands are met.
The five students wept uncontrollably as they were arraigned in court.
Three staff of Dowen College were also charged to court for the same offence.
According to the officer in charge of the legal department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Lagos Police Command, Panti, Yaba, Yetunde Cardoso, the suspects, who were charged with murder, were taken to court on Tuesday and arraigned before Magistrate A.O. Olatunbosun at Court 1, Yaba.
She added that the plaintiff’s lawyer pleaded for 30 days before the continuation of the case, but the Magistrate rejected this and granted 25 days, saying that the court would await the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) on the case.
According to the legal officer, the magistrate ruled that the students be remanded in a juvenile house pending the hearing of the case.
“This is a murder case, we have to take them to court.
“We cannot keep them in our custody, they are minors, we have to take them to court, where they would be remanded pending the conclusion of investigation.
“We cannot keep them in our custody, because we don’t want human rights issue, where they will come tomorrow and say police is detaining minors with an adult.
“They would be remanded in juvenile house, we cannot toy with the law, we have to do the right thing.“Immediately we said they would be taken them to court, the mood of the parents of the students changed and they started weeping, while the children were also crying,” she said.
