Richard Ginika Izuora
The Police in Lagos have taken into its custody eight suspects believed to be involved in the assault and eventual death of a student Sylvester Oromoni.
In an update on the number of persons now in custody over the death of Sylvester Oromoni, a student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, Police confirmed that five students and three housemasters of the school are now in their custody.
Lagos Police Commissioner Hakeem Odumosu gave the update on Tuesday.
He had earlier said three students were in their custody.
Oromoni died after allegedly being attacked by a group of students for refusing to join their cult.
The Police said four of the students were allegedly mentioned by the parents of the victim to be directly involved in the crime while another student is assisting Police investigation.
Odumosu said nobody is above the law, and that the Police would carry out its work in line with the juvenile laws.
“The students whose names were mentioned are in Police custody and investigation is on. Equally too, I have gotten in touch with my colleague in Delta State,” he said.
“Yesterday, I spoke with the mother of the deceased. I got them invited, so once they come now, we will be able to get the full facts of the case. The school has told us their own version of the case and the parents too, we will get their own version of the story.”
Odumosu explained that four groups are involved in the case. They are the families of the children that are alleged to have carried out the act, the school’s authorities, the deceased’s family, and the government.
According to him, the four groups would come together to do and witness the post-mortem that will be conducted on Oromoni’s corpse in order to achieve an objective result.
Oromoni, aged 12, died on Tuesday, November 30, after naming fellow students for allegedly assaulting and bullying him in the school.
The father of the deceased alleged that he died following an assault by five of his colleagues who wanted to initiate him into cultism but the school had claimed he died after sustaining an injury during a football match.
The family of the deceased has demanded a coroner’s inquest into his death, after hiring Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, to take over the case.
Falana, on behalf of the family, petitioned the chief coroner of Lagos State on Monday, demanding an inquest into the death.
