Following the outrage and calls for a total shutdown of Dowen College over the death of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni, the school management has called for restraint and understanding, stating that lives of other students matter too.

“We understand the sentiments of the public but appeal for restraint as many lives including the lives of our students are affected. All lives matter,” the management said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Despite video evidence and the late Oromoni’s revelation that he was tortured by his fellow students who pressured him to join a cult group in the school, Dowen College insists that he only died after sustaining leg injury while playing football.

“We are distressed that a child sustained a leg injury and passed on a week later. We are as shocked as the rest of the world to see our lovely boy look so ill and in so much pain from the videos posted,” the school said.

However, the deceased’s father said x-ray showed that his son’s waist was bent and swollen along with one side of his stomach. The senior Sylvester Oromoni said the school’s principal queried him for releasing the videos and photos of his son’s final moments. 

In the statement, Dowen admitted that the parents of the deceased informed the school of the boy’s ordeal after he was bullied by five students, but said investigations had commenced on November 30, a day after young Oromoni’s demise.

“It is true that though he went home on the 23rd of November, his family did call on the 29th to inform us that he said he was actually bullied by 5 senior students whose names he mentioned.

“We confirm that we immediately started internal investigations on the 30th but he passed on that same day. Sadly we had barely made any headway before the social media frenzy commenced,” Dowen said.

The school, in response to public outcry, said, “we choose not to be side tracked but remain focused in our task to get to the bottom of the allegations made,” adding that it was cooperating with the authorities to unravel the truth about the incident. 

Meanwhile, the Lagos Police on Tuesday interrogated three Dowen College students over the torture and eventual death of young Oromoni.

Parents from the school also held a candlelight procession for the deceased in front of the school premises on Wednesday night.