The management of Dowen College in Lagos state has denied
claims that a 12-year-old student of the school was beaten to death for
refusing to join a cult group.
A Twitter user, who claimed to be the cousin of the
deceased, had on Wednesday called out the school on the micro-blogging
platform.
In a thread, the user had claimed that the pupil was killed
after he rejected attempts by some individuals to make him join a cult group.
“This is my 12 years old cousin that was beaten to death at
a school that cost over 1 million naira,” the user had written.
“Dowen college is a
disgrace. He mentioned 5 names before passing yesterday… They tried to put him
in cult, he refused and they killed him. Secondary school o.”
But in a statement, the school dismissed the allegations. It
also gave its account of events that resulted in the death of the student.
According to the statement, one of the school’s hostel
officials had informed the management on November 21 that the student was
injured while playing football with his colleagues.
The school said he was given first aid treatment by the
resident nurse and thereafter returned to his hostel after he expressed relief.
It added that the next day, the student started complaining
of pain in his hip and was again attended to by the resident doctor at the
school’s sickbay.
The school said the doctor later called the student’s mother
to inform her of the situation and also asked her to pick him up for further
medical treatment.
It claimed that after an initial delay, the student’s mother
eventually sent a guardian to pick him up and subsequently took him for an
x-ray.
The statement added that the guardian would later call to
inform the school that the results of the x-ray showed no part of the student’s
body was injured or broken.
It also said it was unfortunate that several claims have
been making the rounds on social media platforms about how the student died.
The statement added that the school’s preliminary
investigation showed that the students allegedly mentioned by the deceased were
not connected to the incident.
“…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,” it read.
“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.”
The school said as a faith-based college, it vehemently
condemns cultism and other social vices.
“The school has a very cordial relationship with the family
as he is the fifth child of the family Dowen College has the privilege to
train, including his elder sister who is currently a student at the school,” it
added.
“Furthermore, we state categorically Dowen College is built
on core values of godliness and excellence and will not tolerate any acts of
cultism, which is why there is nothing like that and there has never been such
deviant activities going on, as this is a faith based school and effective
policies are in place to prevent such occurrence.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com