The Management of Dowen College, Lagos State has reacted to an allegation that one of its pupils was beaten to death by his colleagues for refusing to join a cult.
Recall that on Wednesday, a Twitter user @Perrisonoromoni took to his page calming that his cousin was killed after he rejected attempts by some boys in the school to make him join a cult group.
@Perrisonoromoni tweeted, “This is my 12 years old cousin that was beaten to death at a school that cost over 1 million naira.
“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.”
Reacting to the allegations in a press statement, the school claimed that the deceased sustained injuries while playing football and was given immediate medical attention by the school’s resident nurse.
The school added that he was returned to his hostel after he expressed relief, but started complaining of pain the next day which led the resident doctor to attend to him at the school’s sickbay.
The school added that 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 school further said it had carried out a preliminary investigation where it was confirmed that there was no case of bullying, adding that it has policies that are strongly anti-cultism.
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 state that the school’s preliminary investigation showed that the students allegedly mentioned by the deceased were not connected to the incident.
The statement reads, “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.
“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 spelt 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 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 have never been such deviant activities going on, as this is a faith-based school and effective policies are in place to prevent such occurrence.”
