Oromoni: Group Decries Coroner’s Delay in Declaring Cause of Death two Years After

Sylvester Idowu in Warri

A group, Justice for Sylvester Oromoni Committee (JSOC), yesterday appealed to the Federal and Lagos State Governments and the judiciary to immediately make public the coroner report on the death of late Sylvester Oromoni jnr, the JSS 11 student allegedly tortured to death by some fellow students at Dowen College, Lekki almost two years ago.

The group decried the prolonged delay by the Coroner Inquest set up by Lagos state government to investigate cause of death of their late son and wondered why it was taking too long for the report to be released.

The late Sylvester Oromoni Jnr died on November 30, 2021, four days to his 12th year birth anniversary from an alleged torture and administration of a poisonous substance allegedly forced down his throat by some identified senior students of the college.

JSOC, in a statement signed by its Coordinator,  Elder Regent Youmor, on the delay, appealed to the Lagos state government, the judiciary and other well meaning Nigerians to prevail on members of the Coroner to immediately make its findings and recommendations available to the public in the interest of justice for their late son.

The group said it has become very necessary for the Coroner to immediately declare its findings to enable the parties involve take their next line of action in ensuring that justice prevails.

It decried the situation where its taking the Hon. Coroner almost two years to investigate the  cause of death of their son noting that such prolonged investigation was no longer in best interest of the members as it had started raising doubts on their transparency and raising suspicions of compromise in the entire process and the purpose for which it was set up to achieve.

“It’s unthinkable to see that a Coroner Inquest that is usually set up with a specific terms of reference and a short time frame to accomplish its findings and submit its findings to enable parties involved take the next line of action open to them in any particular case is now the one foot dragging to make report public.

“From our little experience of how Coroner Inquest works, the members are allowed to sit even on Sundays in order to be able to meet up with the specified time frame it’s being given but in this case, we have an Inquest that adjourns for two months, come back to sit briefly again and then take another three months adjournment for no good reasons,” it stated.

JSOC maintained that it was gradually becoming obvious that the Coroner was deliberately doing this to frustrate the family of the deceased to give up on the case adding “as we want to believe that there is more to the Coroner delay tactics in this matter than meets the ordinary eye.

“As it stands now, we are being forced to believe that someone or group of persons, may have been sponsoring the members to embark on this delayed proceedings as a way of either buying time to manipulate its report or frustrate the family to lose interest in the case so that the perpetrators of the dastardly act that took our son’s life can go scot free.”

“It is based on this, that we the concerned Ijaw indigenes both at home and in the Diaspora are calling on both the federal and Lagos state governments, the judiciary, as well as well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Coroner Inquest to make public its findings so that the family can proceed with its next line of action,” it concluded.