‘My son was tortured like Sylvester Oromoni at Dowen College’

A mother of a student in Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, has disclosed that her 11-year-old son went through the same ordeal as the late Sylvester Oromoni and is lucky to be alive.

The mother made the disclosure during a zoom meeting organised by the Concerned Parents and Educators’ network – group of about 200,000 parents and educators started by education branding specialist, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde on Saturday night.

The parent was incensed by the contribution of someone who claimed to be a former counsellor at Dowen College.

The counsellor who identified himself as Samuel said the boys’ hostel was not purpose-built for boarding as there was no housemaster on each of the floors.

He noted that when there is a noise on any of the floors, before the house master gets there, the seniors would have changed the story. He said the situation forced him to resign from Dowen College.

This information angered the mother, who chided him for not speaking up about his observations early enough to prevent the death of a student.

“I was a guidance counsellor for many years. I want to say that I worked at Dowen College for several years. One of the problems we have with boarding houses today is that the structures are not purpose-built for boarding houses. I might be referring to Dowen College. Now, a situation where you have several floors and no floor has a house parent monitoring the students. By the time you hear a sound and go upstairs, the seniors have changed the story.

“From the first day they moved the children from hired buildings into the permanent hostel, it was a time bomb waiting.

“Eventually I resigned. I left there and went to A’ Hall because of that situation. The children are not well monitored. I shouldn’t say so much about a place I am not working.”

The Dowen parent could no longer take it. She charged: “Why did you not say it since? Why are you just saying it now when a child has died? My son was bullied and almost died in Dowen College.

“Why did you keep this for nine years and then you left the school? My son was a victim. They did exactly what they did to Sylvester to my boy. They put off the light; they asked him to kneel down in the middle. They put a suitcase on his head and they were dancing around him; – seven of them. They were dancing around him like an occultic thing.

“At the same time they took out a phone and recorded it. That video is online somewhere. Now you are telling me that you left Dowen because of the bullying. Why did you not say so that people like us will not put our children in that hole?

“I have been crying since on Thursday when I saw the video I have not eaten; I have not drunk; I have not slept. A child has died. That was 11 year old – the same age with my son. He could have been my son. My son was lucky to be alive but Sylvester was not lucky. You tell me you observed this for nine years then you left. On what basis are you talking?” She said.

She alleged that the boys in Dowen will give ATM card to a security guard to go and withdraw N50,000 and they will start spending the money. The children call security men by their names.

“Valentine is downstairs. He is so fat he cannot climb up (the stairs to the boys’ dormitory); Ahmed, the housemaster doesn’t climb up.

“The only grace the girls have is the lady they called Celine. She put discipline. You cannot bully in the girls’ hostel.”

She said the boys’ hotel was the opposite, as the boys had the latitude to do as they liked. She called for the arrest of the housemasters, Valentine and Ahmed.

She further claimed that the principal saw the video of her son being bullied but chose not to act.

“The principal told me that she saw my son’s video of being bullied but she did not think it was important to act because it was not yet online. So she slept on it.

“And you tell me that you knew and you allowed us to bring our children to the school. The school was collecting N3 million and you cannot put ordinary CCTV camera? My 11-year-old boy just left home in September and they bullied him. They tortured him. They battered him, – seven boys, including Benjamin Favour, who was named in the Sylvester Oromoni’s case,” she said.

The organisers of the meeting later issued a statement, giving some ideas on how the educational system could be generally improved.