Dowen College to critics: Let ‘dear Sylvester Oromoni’s soul rest’

Dowen College has appealed to those that have continued to spread alleged malicious information against it over the death of its pupil, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, to “allow our dear Sylvester’s soul to rest peacefully in our Lord’s arms”.

The school made its position known in a statement on Monday after two autopsy reports were reportedly exonerated 10 of its students and employees.

The 10 were linked to the death of Oromoni on November 30.

The school said in the statement: “On November 30, the Dowen College family was informed we had lost one of our own: Sylvester Oromoni. Sylvester was the fourth of his family to attend Dowen College and this loss came as a shock to the entire school community.

“Unfortunately, before we could grasp and process the reality of losing him, the school was met with a public outburst; accusing five of our students of bullying, poisoning and cultism.

“The authorities directed that an autopsy be conducted. After that, the report revealed that there was no bodily harm, no intoxication, but rather that the young boy suffered and died of pre-existing health conditions that had not been treated.”

Down College despite malicious accusations of complicity against some of its members of staff and students, the autopsy had revealed the truth.

The school added: “At present, the truth wins, our faith wins and our integrity wins. We pray that no school or organisation ever has to experience what we have been going through.

“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.”