Who Killed Sylvester Oromoni?

The recent tragedy that struck at the Dowen College, Lagos, has sparked outrage on various Social media platforms in Nigeria.

A 12-year-old student of Dowen College — Sylvester Oromoni — lost his life after he was attacked by his fellow students, according to the deceased’s claims.

While the veracity of this claim is yet to be ascertained, the pictures and videos of Sylvester before his death showed that he must have been a victim of bullying — a typical phenomenon in boarding schools across Nigeria.

Unfortunately, the management of Dowen College, in their shoddy damage control attempt, had the guts to say that Sylvester was injured while playing football, debunking Sylvester’s earlier claims that his refusal to join a cult group his colleagues introduced him to, earned him the beating that ended his life. What kind of injury can one possibly sustain on a football field that will lead to massive bruises on the lips and internal bleeding?

And if truly Sylvester had an injury on the football field, why did he mention the names of certain students who he claimed tried to force him to join a cult group? At age 12, could Sylvester be linking two unrelated events together?

If truly Dowen College’s claims were true, why did the parents of one of the mentioned students who Sylvester claimed to beat him up rush down to the school in the wee hours of today, December 3, and fly him out of Nigeria?

Prior to Sylvester’s death, his mother (who was faraway) complained to the school management that her ward complained of pains. The boy was taken to the Health facility of the school for treatment after which he was discharged. But all through the period of Sylvester’s back-and-forth trip to the Health Centre, his mother (I don’t know how busy she is), always delegated someone to check on him.

While I do not want to judge a situation I fully don’t understand, I believe the busy lives of so many working parents have made them trivialise the importance of looking out for their wards themselves. Many parents delegate that responsibility to others and it is disturbing.

Truly, she may not have had the time then, but the problem of not having time to deal with issues is that these issues beget other issues. Sadly, it is when the chips are down that people are forced to create time to sort out life-threatening issues just like Sylvester’s own.

Now that the poor lad is dead…

• Suddenly, Sylvester’s family has time to fight for justice;
• Dowen College has time to address the issue — the time the school never had to properly investigate what happened to Sylvester.

It’s quite disheartening that the system failed Sylvester. But, it’s also a wake-up call to all and sundry to learn a thing or two from this incident. Always create time for your loved ones. Life is short.

May the good lord repose Sylvester’s soul.

Ps: How did Dowen College even come up with such a ridiculous claim as saying Sylvester got wounded while playing football? I still need answers.