Contrary to claims by the management of Dowen College that Sylvester Oromoni died after he sustained injuries while playing football, a video evidence has shown that the 12-year-old was grievously bruised and writhing in excruciating pains before his unfortunate demise.

A video of his final moments shared by a relative identified as @Perrisonoromoni on Twitter showed that young Oromoni had injuries on him, with his lips swollen as blood was also spotted on his teeth, an indication that he also had injuries in the mouth.

The young Oromoni could be seen in the video groaning in pains as his mother and other caregivers were massaging his joints and limbs.

“It shall never be well with them. For them to hit my son like this, my God will judge them,” his mother was heard saying as she massaged him.

“How can the school authorities, Dowen College, not know about this?” She asked agonisingly.

The relative on Twitter also said that the Junior Secondary School Two student complained about his throat and stomach while in the hospital.

“He kept complaining about his throat and stomach. He said he was given something to drink,” Perrison Oromoni wrote on Twitter.

Mr Oromoni had told The Gazette that young Oromoni was battered by his co-students over his refusal to join a cult. According to him, the doctor confirmed that the late student had been beaten up, causing internal damages.

“Before passing, he said they’d been pressuring him to join a cult. He was admitted on Friday. He said they were going to kill him if he talked,” the relative said.

The deceased was also said to have mentioned a few names of the students who pressured him to join their cult group before he died.

But the school management, in a statement released on Thursday, said young Oromoni had complained of pains in the hip on November 22 but felt better after medications were administered at the school’s sickbay.

It admitted that his parents were summoned so he could get further medical care and after X-rays were conducted, “no part of the body was injured.”

“Sylvester’s guardian showed up and took him for X-ray after which the guardian informed the school management that the results of the investigation revealed that no part of his body was broken or injured. The resident doctor also called the mother later in the week to check up on Sylvester’s progress but she informed the doctor that Sylvester was sleeping at the time,” the statement read further.

The management maintained that the incident was “strange and unbelievable” as no “no fighting, bullying or any form of attack on the boy” was established during its investigation.

“We immediately commenced investigations and invited the students mentioned for interview. Sylvester’s guardian was also present during some of the investigations. It was revealed that nothing of such happened.

The Gazette’s several attempts to reach the school management for comments on the video, however, proved abortive, as phone lines of their representatives were not connecting.

The school has also disabled the comments section on its Instagram page and an official who earlier provided initial comments to The Gazette when the story broke could no longer be reached.

The Gazette in line with its editorial policy has not provided links to the video referenced in this story as the subject is a minor.