Delta Govt mourns late Dowen College student, as father says son named killers before dying

Deputy Governor of Delta State, Deacon Kingsley Otuaro has mourned Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, the 12-year-old Dowen College student who reportedly died from injuries sustained when senior students of the institution violently attacked him in his hostel room.

This is also as family of the late student, Sylvester Oromoni Jr have now released the names of the senior students of the Dowen College who attacked their son leading to his death.

In a statement on Saturday, Otuaro shared personal experiences he had with the late pupil, shedding light on his brilliance.

“It is with a sense of deep shock that I receive the news of the unexpected death of my cute, exceptionally precocious and brilliant nephew Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.

“Your sudden death by means ostensibly callous addresses the pallid state of instructional and oversight functions of our nations educational Institutes.

“Your coming to be boarded at Dowen college was partly because of our belief in the development of the human dignity as a source of national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, the human heart as the source of national compassion and in the human mind as the source of invention and ideas.

“No parent would knowingly bring his ward to a massive crime scene as the Dowen college Lagos has become. Losing a child is not easy for any parent but to lose an absolutely gorgeous, organic, and original trend setter of a child in such bizzare, unsolicited and hostile way is a contemplation that will take forever to abate.

“Your exceptionality is reflected in the fact that in just a few hours after your death, you had gained tens of millions of responders nationwide and in the Diaspora who are asking questions on what usually could have been swept under the carpet but even in death you fought to resist their intendment.

“Your death has unravelled the dark sides that subsists in our many educational Institutes across the length and breadth of this nation.

“Who would have known that on your 12th birthday today you would not be visited by your parents to share in your joys and to get a laugh out of you in what would have turned to be a memorable moment.

“Your childhood has been amazing. Your work and learning ethic, infinite curiosity and optimism never wavered. Your upbringing could not have made it possible for you to succumb to any brutal threat to be inducted into values and worldviews that are unknown to your faith.

“We were awestruck by sittings of you through many social media handles of the excruciating pains you were in, which could have perhaps been escalated by internal bleeding from your organs.

“Nevertheless, we have so many wonderful memories of your contributions to family and whether you knew it or not we have been watching, learning and constantly motivated by your interest in the Bible and your loving passion for Jesus with whom your soul has gone to repose.

“You never ever spoke ill of anyone and I defy anyone who knew you to say anything negative about you. We compare you to a special child because that is the comparison you invite and has earned. Your character reveals your love, your tears, your triumphs and your resilience.

“While we would not want to immediately interfere with the ongoing investigation of your death, we only wish to assure you that we are following up every lead and trail of the conversation and information you provided on your killers before you passed. We will hold to your statement as a testament of affirmation of a victimised witness.

“In Death you are still setting the bar higher and we only pray that the Almighty God comfort your parents and siblings with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Rest in peace and rise in power Sylvester Jnr. !!!” the full statement by the Delta State Governor read.

Meanwhile, cousin to late Sylvester Oromoni has released the names of five senior students of the Dowen College who attacked the 12-year-old boy in his room, leaving him with injuries which led to his untimely death.

Father of the late student, Mr Sylvester Oromoni, an Ijaw from Warri South council of Delta State, has earlier disclosed that his son named his killers before dying.

However, a cousin of late Sylvester,  Perrie Oromoni, took to his Twitter handle , Saturday to post the names of the five senior students of the school who boy listed as having attacked him as well as forcing him to drink a substance suspected to be poison during the beating.

Perrie Oromoni, however, only posted photographs of three of the students involved in the attack on Sylvester.

According to Perrie, their names are Anslem Temile, Michael Kashamu, Benjamin Favour, Edward Brown and Agboro Emmanuel.

Perrie wrote: “This is my 12 years old cousin that was beaten to death at a school that cost over 1 million naira.

“Dowen college is a disgrace. He mentioned 5 names before passing yesterday. I’ve got the faces of the people responsible for my cousin’s death. You guys won’t get away with this.”

Already, Lagos Government has directed the indefinite closure of Dowen College, in Lekki , pending the outcome of an investigation into the harrowing death of a 12-year-old student of the institution, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.

Lagos Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo who announced the closure after a meeting with the School Management and Staff, however, called for calm, saying no effort would be spared in getting to the root of the incident.

The late Sylvester Oromoni, reportedly died from injuries sustained at the hands of fellow students who allegedly wanted him to join their secret cult group.

However, reacting to the incident, the management of Dowen College claimed the report of bullying is “social media tales”.

“It came as no small shock to us to read wild social media tales that he was beaten by some students and that he specifically mentioned some names.

“We immediately commenced investigations and invited the students allegedly mentioned for interview.

“His guardian was also present during the interviews, which revealed that nothing of such happened.

“The whole incident was strange and unbelievable because: The school has effective anti-bullying policies and consequences are well spelled out to all the students.

“The preliminary investigation showed that there was no fighting, bullying, or any form of attack on the boy.

“He made no such reports, neither to his sister who is also a student or any other students, prefects, house parents, medical staff, or any of the management staff.

“The school has two regular nurses and a qualified medical doctor that promptly attends to students’ medical needs.

The resident doctor followed the laid down procedure by inviting his mother to take him home for further treatment after initial treatment by the school’s medical staff.”

In an interview, father of the late student, Mr Oromoni, narrated the incident leading to the death of son.

“My late son’s name is Sylvester Oromimi Jnr. I gave him my name. Sometime in October this year, my son complained that they (school authorities) put the senior and the junior students in one room. So, these senior boys, whom he shared a room with, would harass him and physically assault him. Each time I gave him money for upkeep – most times, N60,000 – it would not last up to a week. He would call home and start crying that he was hungry and needed more money. I was no longer comfortable. ‘What is really happening to this boy in that school?’ I kept wondering. When I asked him, he refused to say anything. He always acted like he was being threatened not to talk. We kept on buying more provisions. They would steal his clothes and his money. He started keeping his money with his hostel master, one Mr Ahmed.

“Another time, these senior students cornered him and asked if he had seen the private parts of his elder sister who had just passed out of the school. They told him to describe what her private parts looked like. He said he had not seen that before and could not give any description. They started to torture him. When the beating became too much, he then said that he had seen the sister’s private parts, so they would stop beating him. Those were the first instances.

“He first told his younger sister (also a student in the school) about it. The younger sister then called her elder sister, who had just passed out of the school, and reported that Sylvester was behaving funny and “it seemed like some people were beginning to influence him. So, the elder sister called him and scolded him, wanting to hear his own side of the story. He told the sister that they beat him. She asked, “Who are ‘they’?” He mentioned their names. He said that was the reason he said he saw her nakedness so that they would stop beating him.

“News had filtered around the school that Sylvester said he had seen his sister’s private parts and all that. It was really embarrassing, which was why the elder sister called a relative who went to the school on the day of a midterm break. When the relative picked Sylvester up, she found out from their conversation that some seniors had beaten him up. But when the elder sister was there, we didn’t get any such reports of beatings.

“Before now, there was an incident that happened involving one of the boys in this latest incident. The incident happened before the elder sister finished from the school. She was the one who told me about it. It was a minor senior-junior case. You know some of these people can be very power-drunk; the fact that they are seniors gets into their heads and messes them up. The Michael boy was in SS1 then. This Michael and his group had wanted to harass Sylvester but some of the classmates of the elder sister saved him. Maybe, after the elder finally passed out of the school, these boys felt it was their time for revenge on Sylvester.

On whether he reported the initial incident to the school, the father said: “Yes, we did. We called the guardian, Mr Ahmed, first to ask him how come he was unaware of all of the things that happened to my son. The school’s response was that they had suspended these seniors who bullied Sylvester. So, we let the matter rest. We didn’t ask again because we thought that was the appropriate treatment.

“Sylvester went back to school, and the school authorities moved him from that hostel because of that complaint. So, he was not staying with those senior boys again. The incident that finally led to his demise began on Monday (November 22). The school’s sickbay (manager) called my wife that Sylvester was not feeling well, that he couldn’t sleep throughout the night. They asked that she should come and pick him up. When she asked them what happened, they said, “He said he fell. He said he was playing football and fell.” We don’t know how this happened till today.

“They said it was Sylvester that told them that he was playing football at the basketball court and fell. We later learnt that the school did not have a proper field, so students play soccer on the basketball court.

“The first thing he (Sylvester) told us was that someone ‘kicked his leg’ when he was playing. All these things he was telling us, he did so, as we later learnt, because he was scared of those senior students, who had threatened to kill him if he told his parents or the school authorities what really transpired.

When did your wife go to pick him up?

“By the time they called that Monday it was already late for my wife to travel to Lagos, so we told the school that a friend of the family would come to pick him up. The following day, the family friend, a young man, went to pick him up and when he saw Sylvester, he was surprised. He quickly called us and told us that our son could not walk, that if they touched him, he would shout in pain. His lips had also begun to peel. The pictures are everywhere.

“Initially, we thought it was fever or malaria since we hadn’t seen him physically as we were still in Delta State. He was taken for an X-ray because he could not walk. On Wednesday, one of my older sons went from Warri to join them in Lagos to really ascertain what the situation was. It was when he got there that he realised that it was serious and requested that I join them in Lagos.

“I was in Asaba at the time and it was already late that day, so I joined them the following day, which was Thursday. When I saw Sylvester, as a father, I couldn’t bear it; I asked if I could move him to Warri for proper treatment. I asked him to tell me what had happened, Sylvester kept saying, “I fell!”

“But before he could even manage to say that he would tremble. I knew that was not his real self; something was not right about him. He was being threatened. He couldn’t move; he couldn’t eat. We had to assist him to the toilet. Any part of his body you touched, he would shout.

Since there was no flight that day, we had to go by the road. That was Friday. I called a masseur to check him up, but that one said there were no dislocations. But my son’s waist and ribs were physically swollen. His chest and shoulders were also swollen. When we got to the hospital and the doctor took a sample, he said Sylvester was having fever and malaria. But my son kept shouting, “My throat! My throat!”

“We treated him for malaria till Sunday but he still couldn’t walk, sleep or eat. It was the drip they gave him that sustained him for those days. On Monday, it became so severe between of 11pm and 12pm. That was when he opened up to us. He said he was scared, that the senior boys had threatened to kill him if he exposed them.

“Sylvester said he was in his room one night and some five senior boys entered the room and put off the light. He said they beat him with a belt and kicked him till he fell to the ground. When he did, they continued to torture him. After the beating, they forced him to drink something and he did. He couldn’t explain what it was. This explains the peeling of his mouth.

“We had to take him for a scan and another X-ray which showed that he had a swollen liver and some of his internal organs were also swollen. The next day, I took him to the teaching hospital. Before we got to Warri, he had given up the ghost. So, we couldn’t take him to the hospital again.

On whether his son named his assailants before dying, Oromoni confirmed in the affirmative, saying: “My eldest son who is abroad contacted the school immediately to register his complaint. He called Mr Ahmed, and he said Ahmed was crying. They took the phone to the principal of the school and mentioned that he wanted to speak to those boys. He was then questioning them, and since it was a video call, he was able to capture their faces in a screenshot.”

On whether the school’s authorities responded, Oromoni said: “They called the boys to question them and they gave the same lie my son had been telling before his passing – he fell. The school chose to believe these lies without due investigation. You must have seen their press statement. That is what they maintained until we started sending out these videos and pictures we made of Sylvester when we saw him. The principal called me, asking why I was sending out these pictures all over social media. The Lagos State Government also asked about the videos and we sent them. The boys still refuse to say the truth even in the face of striking evidence.

“I heard one of them jumped over the fence yesterday (Thursday). The other boy’s parents, as I heard, came in with a very long convoy around 5am and took him away. The boy carried all his things and joined his parents, who were waiting in the car. I don’t know how true that is, but that was the information my sources fed me with. They feel they are big men. The school authorities would provide them when the time comes.

“They should keep running. After killing my son, they want to run away. I am just thankful that my son, before he gave up the ghost, mentioned their names. If they allow them to escape, this means they are encouraging that kind of nonsense in their school.”