“My Son was Beaten and Fed chemical” – Father of Late Dowen College Student

According to TheCable reporter who visited Dowen College at midday, seeking an audience with Adebisi Layiwola, the elite school’s principal, who was said to be in an emergency board meeting over the issue.

At the reception/lounge, parents could be seen pacing in and out to check their wards. An official engaged this reporter in a heated verbal exchange on suspicion of making secret footage as a staff member of the school chided one of the students said to have bullied his colleagues.

Officials of the education quality assurance office in Lagos emerged from the premises but declined an interview.

Five boys were alleged to have been involved in the bullying, three of whose names were mentioned online.

In an outpour, Junior’s father said: “My son suffered. His birthday is next tomorrow (Dec 4). I’ll celebrate it. I’ll have a cake baked. I’ll cut it on his behalf. The boys they mentioned were also reported to the school last term when they bullied Junior and collected all his foodstuffs; clothes. I have two daughters, one of whom earlier graduated. I had to remove the second after this incident. They asked this boy to describe the sister’s privates and this got to us.”

Oromoni’s family said Dowen had temporarily suspended the boys involved after the family’s eldest son took it up. He said Junior was also switched to a new hostel but the bullying and intimidation persisted into the new term.

“They put fear in him so much so that, when you ask him, he might keep to himself and say, ‘they will kill me’. This way, we didn’t know what to do. I considered removing him reconsidered since his sisters were still in the school. The new incident came to my knowledge on November 21st after the school called my wife to notify us that our son was in the school clinic, injured. My senior son, who was to make a London trip, came to see us in Warri,” he said.

“The next day, we sent a family friend to help pick up our son since he was the only person in Lagos and take him to the hospital.