Parents of students of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State, have insisted that justice must prevail over the death of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni, who reportedly died from injuries he sustained after being beaten and molested by his senior colleagues.
Oromoni had died on November 30, 2021, four days to his 13th birthday.
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The death of the promising child had sparked outrage across the country, with the Lagos government closing down the school.
The parents, in a statement signed by Aituaz Kola-Oladejo; Waheed Adeoye; Oluwaseun Bolanle Ajila; Kingsley Kema Agu on behalf of the Parents’ Forum, said they rely on the authorities for justice, regardless of the social status of whoever is found guilty of perpetrating the evil act.
While the parents assured that they will work closely with the school (management/board), to ensure necessary measures are put in place to prevent a reoccurrence of the unfortunate incident and stamp out bulling in any form from the school; they called for a change of the school management and hostel teachers.
They also demanded the installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in strategic places within the school as well as overhauling of the school security system.
They also appealed to parents to show more interest in what their children do and who they associate with in school and at home.
The parents appealed to the public to see the late Sylvester’s case as an inflection point, not only for Dowen College but also other schools in Nigeria as recent events have shown that bullying, molestation, and other vices among students are common in schools.
The forum also scheduled a Candlelight session in honour of late Sylvester, at the school by 6pm on Wednesday.
The lighting of candles, according to them is to pay tribute to a life ‘passed’ and that keeping the light burning signifies that the memory still lives on and burns bright.
“The Candlelight no doubt promotes reflection and signifies remembrance of a life cut short in his infancy.”
“As parents, we are still in shock and could not come to terms with this incident and the accounts so far provided by the school, students, and the media. We are, however, temporarily relieved by the swiftness with which the authority intervened and commenced investigation towards unravelling the cause of Sylvester Oromoni’s death. We urge the school management team and other stakeholders to fully cooperate with the authority in the ongoing investigation.
“While we would have loved to bring Sylvester back if humanly possible, unravelling the cause of Sylvester’s death and bringing whoever was responsible or might have contributed in whatever way to book will not only bring this unfortunate incident to a closure for the family, but will also serve as a deterrent to others in all schools in Nigeria. We are currently in a fix and our children are traumatized because what happened to Sylvester could have happened to any other child in the school. To many of the traumatized students, Sylvester was a classmate, a roommate, a schoolmate, or a friend,” the statement read.
