The Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday confirmed the detention of students and housemasters of Dowen College over alleged involvement in the death of their colleague, Sylvester Oromoni Junior.
12-year-old Sylvester was said to have died from the injuries sustained during an alleged assault by five of his colleagues who wanted to initiate him into cultism.
Following the incident, the police authorities began an investigation on Monday and earlier quizzed three students.
According to the police, 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 investigations.
While addressing journalists on Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Hakeem Odumosu, said nobody is above the law, adding 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 were involved in the case – the families of the children that are alleged, 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 Sylvester’s corpse in order to achieve an objective result.
However, there were conflicting reports on the number of students in police custody. Channels TV, Thisday, and several other media reports 5 students, while Punch reports that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu in a chat, says that three students of Dowen College in the Lekki area of the state are currently in police custody for allegedly assaulting 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni.
Odumosu, who spoke with The PUNCH on Tuesday morning, also said two other students of the school fingered in the assault, are now at large, adding that those in police custody are helping the Command with information on how to track them.
The Lagos CP added that the school principal, housemasters, and other officials of the Lekki-based school are also assisting the police with information as the Command launched a full-scale probe into the circumstances culminating in the death of Oromoni on November 30, 2021.
Meanwhile, Lagos Panorama in a phone conversation with the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, to ascertain the number of students in the police custody, the PPRO said it’s an ongoing investigation, that they may have earlier had three students in custody and later have more at the course of the investigation. He promised to get back on more details about development.
