Like Sylvester Oromoni, Like Whitney Adeniran

By Zayd Ibn Isah

The death of Whitney Adeniran last Thursday reminds me of the equally tragic death of Sylvester Oromoni of Dowen College last year. Whitney Odesola Adeniran was a 12-year-old student of Chrisland School, Lagos. And by all accounts, she died during the school’s annual Inter-house Sports Festival at Agege Stadium in Lagos. The cause of her death is still not known as of the time of writing this article. Meanwhile, Whitney’s parents and the school management have been in a war of words over what killed the young girl.

Through a strongly-worded press statement, the school authority has denied Whitney parents’ claim that their precious daughter left home hale and hearty, and as such, her sudden death was as a result of the school’s negligence.

The school emphasized that Whitney slumped in public view, and not under any hidden circumstances, begging the parents to allow the necessary agencies to establish the clear cause of her death before burial.

Now, if the press release was meant to calm the rising tension, it has already failed, seeing as it only aggravated a delicate situation. The parents of Whitney emerged to pooh-pooh the school’s statement, insisting that the management of Chrisland High School must own up to their actions.

The late student’s father, Michael Adeniran, in an exclusive interview with The Punch said that he would not bury Whitney until Chrisland admits their mistake and tells the truth about what led to the death of his child.

Whitney’s mother, Mrs. Blessing Adeniran, was the first to take to social media to narrate how she found out her daughter died. In the heartbreaking video on her Instagram page on Sunday, the tearful mother said she was told her daughter slumped before being rushed to the hospital. She said that she had immediately rushed to the hospital, only to find the dead body of her daughter lying on the hospital bed. She further revealed that her daughter was taken to an immunization centre rather than a proper hospital, and that there had been no proper first aid administered.

After listening to Blessing’s ordeal on Instagram, many Nigerians could not help but feel pity for her. Certainly, it is painful to lose a child, but to know that your child’s death could have been prevented is a deeper pain entirely. A lot of people have already expressed their indignation against Chrisland High School for lacking proper medical facilities for their students, in spite of the huge amounts of money parents pay as school fees.

Interestingly, a student of the school has alleged in a leaked audio that Whitney Adeniran was electrocuted during the inter-house sports. Which account of the story should Nigerians believe now? This is even as the school management continues to insist that Whitney slumped and died, while the whistleblower’s claims have melded with the parents’ insistence to strain the credulity of their official stance.

This is not also the first time that Chrisland has appeared in the news for unsavory reasons. Just last year, the school was enmeshed in a sex tape scandal after a video of sexual misconduct by students of the school shocked Nigerians, drawing criticism and condemnations from several quarters. The sexual affair between the students involved happened while they were on a trip to Dubai for the World School Games.

While the mother of the female student at the center of this scandal alleged that her 13-year-old daughter had been raped, the school insisted that the sexual acts performed had been consensual. And just like that, the question of whether a minor can give sexual consent or not was thrown up. But come to think of it, if it is established that a minor cannot give consent and the students at the centre of the sex scandal are minors, who should be held responsible? The teachers for allowing the students to wander about loosely like sheep without shepherds, or the parents for not being aware of their children’s prodigious sexual abilities?

But, I’m afraid I digress here. Presently, the Lagos State Government has ordered temporary closure of Chrisland High School, located at Opebi-Ikeja, pending the outcome of investigations to unravel the circumstances surrounding Whitney Adeniran’s death. At this point, it should be stated that Chrisland is one of the largest privately-owned, nursery, primary and secondary schools in Nigeria with campuses in Lagos and Abuja. This closure amidst bad publicity will have far-reaching implications for the perceptions and legacy of the school.

More importantly, Whitney Adeniran’s death has triggered painful memories of the late Sylvester Oromoni who died in mysterious circumstances on November 30, 2022. According to the parents, their 12-year-old son died as a result of injuries which his senior colleagues inflicted on him for refusing to join their cult group. But the school authority denied this allegation of dehumanizing treatment, insisting that Dowen College was not a breeding ground for cultism.

Meanwhile, there were reports that the students who caused Sylvester’s death had been discretely flown out of the country. The management of the school came out to state that Sylvester had sustained injuries while playing football. And just like with Whitney, the Nigerian internet was divided by a war of words, arguments, counter-arguments and allegations until the Lagos State Government decided to wade in.

The deaths of Whitney and Sylvester have only helped in exposing some of the fault lines in this country’s security operations, healthcare and administration of criminal justice, particularly within the microcosm of the secondary school. A simple review of CCTV cameras, if there had been any in the stadium at all, would have confirmed the school’s claim that Whitney slumped and died, saving the country from this ugly barrage of allegations and counter-allegations.

Our security systems should be rejigged to be in tune with modern day reality. Fighting crimes in the 21st century without CCTV cameras and other sophisticated gadgets will not only make law enforcement unnecessarily difficult for relevant agencies, but would also make it hard for justice to be served properly.

While we await the outcome of the autopsy to determine the cause of Whitney Omodesola Adeniran’s death, it is our hope that justice should not only be done, but be seen to be done.

May the soul of the innocent girl rest in peace and love, just like the gentle soul of Sylvester Oromoni. And may God give both of the bereaved families the strength to bear the loss which they have unjustly suffered.

Zayd Ibn Isah writes from Abuja via isahzayd@gmail.com.