A group seeking justice for late Sylvester Oromoni, a Junior Secondary School (JSS) II student of Dowen College, Lekki, who was allegedly tortured to death by some students, yesterday, lamented prolonged delay by the Coroner Inquest set up by Lagos State government to investigate the student’s death.
The group under the aegis of Justice for Sylvester Oromoni Committee (JSOC), demanded immediate release of findings, recommendations in the interest of justice for their late son
The late Oromoni died on November 30, 2021, four days to his 12th birth anniversary (on January 4, 2022), from alleged torture and administration of a poisonous substance that was forced down his throat by some identified senior students of the college.
In a statement by its coordinator, Regent Youmor, the body said it has become very necessary for the Coroner to immediately declare its findings for the parties involved to be able to take their next line of action in ensuring that justice prevails.
They 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.
The group condemned the situation where it took the coroner almost two years to investigate the cause of death of their son, noting that such prolonged investigation was no longer in the best interest of the members.
“We have started raising doubts on their transparency and raising suspicions of compromise in the entire process and the purpose for which it was set up to achieve.
“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 the report public.
“From our little experience of how coroner inquest works, the members are allowed to sit even on Sundays, to meet up with the specified time frame it’s being given but in this 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 delay tactics in this matter than meets the ordinary eye,” the group said.
Continuing they stated: “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 this 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 to make public its findings so that the family can proceed with its next line of action.”
