Dowen College student's death prompts Lagos to close the school, the father to speak out, and Nigerians to react.

The Lagos state government has ordered the indefinite closure of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos over the controversy trailing the death of one of its students, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr even as reactions have trailed the incident.

The 12-year-old student was alleged to have been attacked by some of his senior colleagues for refusing to join a cult group.The student’s father, who bears the same name as his son also claimed that his son was fed liquid substance and intimidated into keeping mum over what transpired. But the school had earlier dismissed the claim, alleging that the deceased only sustained injuries while playing football with his colleagues.

Sylvester Oromoni

Following a meeting with the management and staff of Dowen College on Friday, the Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo, announced an indefinite shutdown of the institution.

A statement signed by Ganiu Lawal, spokesperson of the Lagos State Ministry of Education said, “The Lagos State Government has ordered the indefinite closure of Dowen College, Lekki, pending the outcome of an investigation into the death of Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, a student of the school. Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo announced the closure after a meeting with the School Management and Staff. The Commissioner called for calm, saying no effort will be spared in getting to the root of the incident.”

The Commissioner’s announcement came after Dowen College had issued a statement to parents about its plans to shut down for two days. The Management of the school, in a statement to the parents said.

“in view of the current situation concerning the school and considering the emotions of the students, we have advised that our students stay home tomorrow, Friday 3rd and Monday 6th. This will also afford the students the opportunity to revise for their forthcoming examinations starting next week.”

They earlier bullied my son, collected his foodstuffs, clothes —Father

Father of the deceased student, has however opened up on some of the atrocities his son went through in the school.

In an interview with an online medium, The Cable, Oromoni Snr said that his son was subjected to severe bullying, revealing that the boys who allegedly bullied Oromoni Jnr had been reported to the school management the previous term.

He said, “My son suffered. His birthday is next tomorrow (Dec 4). I’ll celebrate it. I’ll have a cake baked. I’ll cut it on his behalf. The boys they mentioned were also reported to the school last term when they bullied Junior and collected all his foodstuffs and clothes. I have two daughters, one of whom earlier graduated. I had to remove the second after this incident. They asked this boy to describe the sister’s private part and this got to us.”

The boy’s father also said that Oromoni Jnr had been issued death threats if he ever revealed what happened to him in school. He also stated that contrary to what Dowen College had said in a statement addressing the sad incident, the family friend who they sent to pick up Oromoni Jnr from the school described a totally different situation. Read More On..