The parents’ forum of Dowen College in Lagos has demanded the sack of the school’s management team and hostel teachers over the death of Sylvester Oromoni Junior, the 12-year-old student who was allegedly tortured to death by “some senior colleagues”.
InsightnaijaTv recalls that Sylvester Oromoni was alleged to have been bullied, beaten, and fed with a chemical by five students over his refusal to join their cult group, which resulted in his death.
However, the management of Dowen College had initially denied all the allegations, saying that Sylvester was neither bullied nor beaten, but only sustained injuries while playing football at the school.
Following the continued outrage tailing the death of Sylvester, there has been an online campaign tagged #justiceforsylvesteroromoni, asking parents to withdraw their wards from Dowen College over the way the school has handled the matter.
In a statement on Tuesday, the parents, under the aegis of the Dowen College Parents’ Forum, said that the withdrawal of their children from the school would not solve any problem.
The parents said they are yet to come to terms with “the incident and the accounts so far provided by the school, students, and the media”, adding that the Forum is working closely with the school and other relevant authorities to ensure the late student gets justice.
They said the resolutions that “would bring relief” to the Oromonis, other parents, children, and the public “should include a change of the school management and hostel teachers, installation of CCTV cameras in all strategic places, and overhauling of the school security system.”
The statement reads, “We urge the school management team and other stakeholders to fully cooperate with the authorities in the ongoing investigation.
“While we would have loved to bring Sylvester back if humanly possible, unraveling the cause of his death and bringing whoever was responsible or might have contributed in whatever way to book will not only bring this unfortunate incident to closure for the family, but will also serve as deterrent to other juvenile delinquents in all schools in Nigeria.
“We, therefore, say justice for Sylvester is justice for all. On our part as parents, we will work more closely with the school (management/board) to ensure that necessary measures are put in place to prevent recurrence of this unfortunate incident and stamp out bullying in any form from the school.
“We will also continue to appeal to parents through all available means to show more interest in what their children do and who they associate with in school and at home.
“We appeal to the public to see this incident 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 our schools.
“Therefore, we rely on the authorities for justice, regardless of the social status of whoever is involved. Dowen college parents need this more as we are currently in a fix and our children are traumatised.”
What happened to Sylvester could have happened to any other child in the school. To many of the traumatised students, Sylvester was a classmate, a roommate, a schoolmate, or a friend.
“We therefore earnestly ask for a resolution that will bring some relief to the bereaved family, other parents, students of Dowen College, and the public.
“These should include a change of the school management and hostel teachers, installation of CCTV cameras in all strategic places and overhauling of the school security system.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has sealed off Dowen College after the school was shut down ‘indefinitely’ to allow investigations into how Sylvester Oromoni died under controversial circumstances on Tuesday.
