…Faults Delay Tactics In Declaring Cause Of Death Almost Two Years
Almost two years after Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, a JSS II student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State, allegedly died over allegation of torture by fellow students, a group seeking justice for the deceased pupil, Justice for Sylvester Oromoni Committee (JSOC), has demanded that the result of the Coroner Inquest into the cause of his death be made public.
The group said it was unacceptable for the findings and recommendation of the inquest to be swept under the carpet months after the committee had completed and forwarded its findings to the Lagos State Government.
The late Oromoni Jnr. died on November 30, 2021, four days to his 12th year birthday (on January 4, 2022) from an alleged torture and administration of a poisonous substance that was forced down his throat by some identified senior students of the college.
Following controversies trailing the circumstances surrounding Oromoni’s death, the Lagos state government set up a Coroner Inquest to investigate the cause of the pupil, but several months after the committee completed their assignment.
Addressing journalists on Monday in Warri, the group lamented that there were plots to frustrate justice in the case by deliberately delaying the findings and recommendations of the Inquest.
It appealed to the Lagos state government, the judiciary and other well meaning Nigerians to prevail on members of the Coroner to immediately make its findings and recommendations available to the public in the interest of justice for their late son.
Making its stand known in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Elder Regent Youmor, the body said it has become very necessary for the Coroner to immediately declare its findings in order for the parties involved to be able to take their next line of action in ensuring that justice prevails.
It described a situation where it’s taking the Hon. Coroner almost two years to investigate the cause of death of their son, noting that such prolonged investigation was no longer in best interest of the members as it had started raising doubts on their transparency and raising suspicions n of compromise in the entire process and the purpose for which it was set up to achieve.
According to the statement; “It’s unthinkable to see that a Coroner Inquest that is usually set up with a specific terms of reference and a short time frame to accomplish its findings and submit its findings to enable parties involved take the next line of action open to them in any particular case is now the one foot dragging to make report public”.
“From our little experience of how Coroner Inquest works, the members are allowed to sit even on Sundays, in order to be able to meet up with the specified time frame it’s being given but, in the case, we have an Inquest that adjourns for two months, come back to sit briefly again and then take another three months adjournment for no good reasons”.
“Gradually, it’s becoming very obvious that the coroner is deliberately doing this to frustrate the family of the deceased to give up on the case, as we want to believe that there is more to the coroner’s delay tactics in this matter than meets the ordinary eye”.
Continuing, “As it stands now, we are being forced to believe that someone or group of persons, may have been sponsoring the members to embark on these delayed proceedings as a way of either buying time to manipulate its report or frustrate the family to lose interest in the case so that the perpetrators of the dastardly act that took our son’s life can go scot-free”.
“It is based on this, that we the concerned Ijaw indigenes both at home and in the diaspora are calling on both the federal and Lagos state governments, the judiciary, as well as well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Coroner Inquest to make public its findings so that the family can proceed with its next line of action”, it concluded.
