Oromini’s inquest: Akande raises concerns over unanswered questions, says family deserves decent closure

As the nation grapples with the recent findings of the coroner’s inquest into the death of Sylvester Oromini, the echoes of the tragic incident from two years ago continue to reverberate, veteran journalist, Laolu Akande, has raised concerns over unanswered questions in Oromini’s inquest, emphasising that the family deserves a decent closure. In the latest […]

As the nation grapples with the recent findings of the coroner’s inquest into the death of Sylvester Oromini, the echoes of the tragic incident from two years ago continue to reverberate, veteran journalist, Laolu Akande, has raised concerns over unanswered questions in Oromini’s inquest, emphasising that the family deserves a decent closure.

In the latest release, the coroner, Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri inquiring into the cause of death of the late Sylvester Oromoni, a 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lagos, has returned a verdict that the deceased died a natural death.

However, speaking on Sunrise Daily, a news documentary programme on Channels TV, on Tuesday morning, Akande highlighted various issues surrounding the investigation and called for further scrutiny involving a decisive government intervention over the controversial coroner inquest’s findings.

Oromini, a promising young student, had met his untimely demise under circumstances that have since sparked nationwide outrage and calls for justice.

Two years ago, the news of Sylvester Oromini’s death sent shockwaves across the country, as the young boy, full of potential and dreams, was tragically cut down in the prime of his life.

Initial reports indicated that he had suffered severe injuries allegedly inflicted during a bullying incident at his boarding school, Doyen College.

For this reason, Akande, the in-house analyst of Channels TV emphasised the importance of providing closure to Oromini’s family, stating, “Clearly, as a people with a government, our society still owes Sylvester Oromini’s family a decent and reasonable closure. But clearly, that has not happened.”

He stressed the need for parents to be more physically present in their children’s lives, especially in boarding schools, to combat bullying effectively.

Regarding the responsibility of the government in implementing stricter regulations for boarding schools, Akande, a former presidential aide asserted,” I think the greater point is that we must try as much as possible, the government must have more stringent regulations of boarding education in this country because, the principal of the school is the guardian of that boy, whatever happens in that school, it is his responsibility.”

Expressing surprise at the coroner’s conclusions, Akande indicated,” I am surprised, we don’t know what the facts are, but this thing is not over yet,” as he questioned the necessity of publicly indicting the parents and urged for transparency in the process.

Furthermore, Akande highlighted the emotional toll on all parties involved, including the students falsely implicated in the case, noting, “Then yeah of course they too have paid quite a lot of emotion. I understand that it took over an hour for the finding to be read.”

Raising doubts about the thoroughness of the investigation, Akande questioned, “Why wasn’t there a toxicologist test just to remove the shadow of doubt? You know to the extent that the work of the coroner’s inquest is meant to give us facts.”

He also mentioned concerns raised by legal expert Femi Falana, stating, “Mr. Falana has pointed to one or two. What is the next? It will be good to find out what is next.**”

Akande pondered on the prolonged duration of the inquest, stating, “I tried to do some quick check to see how long should this kind of inquest take. I mean this took about two years. The basic norm of justice delay is justice denial. This is not looking good at all. If it has to take us as a nation two years to find out what happened for a few days in a school, I think that is an indictment of the system itself.”