Sylvester Oromoni: family slams LASG, Dowen college, demands justice

The family of the deceased student of Dowen College Lekki, Lagos State, late Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, has continued to cry out for justice on the matter, one year after.

The deceased kicked the bucket in controversial circumstances on November 30, 2021.

Oromoni allegedly died as a result of negligence, assault, bullying and the administration of poisonous substance in the school. The Lagos State Government has since order a coroner inquest to unravel the cause of Sylvester’s death, which commenced on the January 21, 2022 at the Magistrate Court, Epe (now Magistrate Court 20, Ogba). However, the inquest is yet to be concluded.

The father of the deceased student, Mr. Sylvester Oromoni, stated in a signed statement made available to journalists in Warri, Delta State on Tuesday, that if the inquest is not concluded before the end of this year, he would be compelled to withdraw from it “in order to take a different legal step to seek justice.”

The senior Omoroni noted with concern that the coroner inquest of the Ikoyi building collapse of 2021 where 52 persons died did not take this long to reach a conclusion.

He added that the inquest on the Ojota Yoruba rally where one Miss Jumoke Oyeleke died had since been concluded.

The Senior Omoroni’s statement

The statement read in part, “As the father of the deceased, I cannot be tired or discouraged from pursuing justice as I have promised my son to get him justice even if it will take thirty years to achieve it.

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“Today, November 30, 2022 makes it a year since the demise of my son and the body is still in the morgue, yet to be buried. This one-year memorial being held today is to tell Nigerians and the entire world about the current position of the inquest and the antics of Dowen College.

“I am equally aware that some civil society organisations and NGOs in Abuja and Lagos are equally observing the one-year memorial today to mark his one-year untimely demise.

“May the soul of Sylvester Oromoni (Jnr.) and all departed souls rest in perfect peace. Amen. This struggle is not only about my late son, but my own way of preventing the future occurrence of this tragic incident.

“In the same vein, we equally urge the Lagos State Government, as a matter of urgency to charge Dowen College and all the staff who had earlier been recommended for prosecution in the DPP Advice of 30th day of December, 2021 to court.

“Already, Dowen College has since the commencement of this Coroner put a lot of things in order in the school premises which were not available at the material time.

It was gathered that the legal advice earlier issued by the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, Ministry of Justice, Lagos State indicted Dowen College and some of its staff and recommended them for prosecution under Section 252 of the Criminal Law (C17) Vol. 3 Laws of Lagos State 2015.

Absence of material witnesses

Despite the advice, these persons indicted are reportedly walking freely while the body of the deceased continues to lie in the morgue.

The coroner had adjourned proceedings to November 21, 2022 for Dowen College to produce the two remaining witnesses from the school.

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However, the school reportedly refused to provide these two witnesses who were currently in Dowen College on the said November 21, 2022, to enable them to testify before the coroner.

As a result of that, the inquest was further adjourned to November 28, 2022. Unfortunately, the coroner could not also sit on this date because of the absence of these witnesses from Dowen College.