“Allow our darling Sylvester’s soul to rest quietly in our Lord’s arms,” Dowen College has appealed to individuals who have continued to propagate harmful information about it following the death of its student, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.
After two autopsy findings exonerated ten of its students and employees, the school issued a statement on Monday explaining its position.
The ten were suspected of being involved in Oromoni’s death on November 30.
“On November 30, the Dowen College family was notified we had lost one of our own: Sylvester Oromoni,” the school announced in a statement. Sylvester was the fourth member of his family to attend Dowen College, and his death stunned the whole student body.
“Unfortunately, the school was faced with a public outburst before we could grasp and absorb the reality of losing him, accusing five of our pupils of bullying, poisoning, and cultism.”
“The authorities ordered an autopsy to be performed. Following that, the report indicated that there was no bodily injury or intoxication, but rather that the young kid suffered and died from untreated pre-existing medical issues.”
Despite vicious charges of collusion leveled against some of Down College’s faculty and students, the autopsy showed the truth.
“At this time, the truth triumphs, our faith wins, and our integrity wins,” the school added. We hope that no other school or organization ever has to go through what we have.
“We have maintained in our hearts and minds that compassion must override the instinct to defend ourselves, despite being tried viciously in the court of public opinion and social media. Our focus has been to work with the authorities in uncovering the whole truth regarding this matter and that is where our efforts have been.
“In the course of submitting ourselves to the investigations of the authorities, we have also kept silent and not assigned any blame to the accused children because we believe we must let the experts do their job and that they remain innocent until proven guilty, especially since our own preliminary investigations did not reveal their complicity in any untoward conduct.”
The statement emphasised that the autopsy report, “which is the product of the work of seven of the leading Pathologists in Nigeria, including one representing the Oromoni family from Delta State, has shown that Sylvester had several chronic pre-existing health conditions.
“These health conditions cannot be fabricated or doctored. If there were contributory injuries from any bodily harm, they would have been presented and stated. Dowen College is not covering up anything for any student or family.
“At this point, we respectfully request that all those who have consistently, misguidedly and maliciously pushed false information should cease and desist immediately and allow our dear Sylvester’s soul rest peacefully in our Lord’s arms.”
