Three parents whose children were named in the tragic incident that led to the death of Sylvester Oromoni Jnr., a student of Dowen College, Lekki, have surrendered the children to the police in Lagos.
A police source said the concerned parents brought the children to the police station from where they were eventually moved to Panti, Yaba, Lagos.
One of the children, whose name was not given, our source revealed, was among the ones rumoured in the media to have been flown abroad by their parents.
Among those alleged to have been responsible for the student’s death are Michael Kashamu, Angel Temile, Favour Benjamin, Edward Brown and Agboro Emmanuel.
Kashamu’s family has, however, issued a statement denying their son’s involvement, while noting that he was the school father of Oromoni and couldn’t have been part of the plan to hurt him.
The source said the police are under serious pressure from the state government and the public to get to the root of the matter, notwithstanding the fact that the issue has not been formally reported to the force.
The source also informed that the sudden closure of the school may not have helped matter, as staff of the school and parents of accused students who had been invited by the police to give statements all left and withdrew their wards from the school.
“It was a sort of relief for the police at the Lekki station when those three parents came in with their children on Saturday,” the source said.
It is, however, not clear if the three children taken to Panti police station, Yaba, were detained or allowed to return home with their parents.
The Lagos State Government had last Friday ordered the indefinite closure of Dowen College, Lekki, pending the outcome of an investigation into the death of the 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.
The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, announced the closure after a meeting with the School Management and Staff.
Oromoni Jnr allegedly died from injuries sustained from beating by his fellow students who wanted him to join their secret cult group, according to a revelation by a Twitter user, Perrie, who said the deceased was his cousin.
Ever since, #JusticeForSylvester had been trending on social media, with claims that effort was on to “kill” the incident.
However, the school authority had denied the boy was bullied but said in a statement that he sustained the injury while playing football in the school with his mates