The Lagos State Government has ordered a Coroner’s Inquest to ascertain the cause of death of Whitney Adeniran, a 12-year-old student of Chrisland School, Ikeja.
The student died on Thursday, 9th February 2023 during the school’s inter-house sports events.
The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), who gave the directive in a statement on Monday, stated that a thorough investigation will be carried out to ascertain the cause of death.
Onigbanjo said: “A Coroner’s Inquest has immediately been requested in line with sections 14 and 15 of the Coroners’ Systems Law, Laws of Lagos State 2015, to determine the cause and circumstances of the death of the student.”
“By Section 14 (1) (d) of the Coroners’ System Law of the State: A report of death shall be made to any of the agencies for the report of death or the office of the Coroner and be subject to post-mortem examination where there is reasonable cause to believe that the cause of death was: violent, unnatural or suspicious.
“Section 15 (1) and (9) further enjoins the Coroner to hold an inquest whenever he or she is informed that the death of the deceased person was in a violent, unnatural or suspicious situation or believes an inquest is desirable following the report of a reportable death”, he added.
The Commissioner assured that the everything will be done to determine the cause of the death of the school girl.
“The findings of this investigation will be made public in due course and appropriate sanctions meted out to anyone found culpable,” Onigbanjo stated.
The State government had on Sunday, 12th February, ordered temporary closure of Chrisland School.
The statement posted on the official Facebook page for Lagos State Government on Sunday, indicated that the directive was issued by the state Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo, who said the school remains shut “pending the outcome of a full investigation into the unfortunate incident.”
“Mrs Adefisayo, on behalf of the State Ministry of Education, commiserated with Mr and Mrs Adeyemi, parents of Whitney, and prayed for the repose of her soul.
“We also note the impact of this unfortunate event on family, friends and acquaintance of Whitney and call for calm as we assure that no effort will be spared in investigating the incident,” part of the statement read.
A video that went viral during the weekend showed the mother of late Whitney, Blessing Adeniran, lamenting and demanding that the school should explain what killed her daughter, who according to her was healthy when she accompanied her to school for the Inter House Sports event.
Father of the deceased, Dr. Michael Adeniran in an interview with the BBC Pidgin on Sunday, claimed that his daughter died of electrocution.
Dr. Adeniran claimed that his daughter “died from naked wire from one cotton candy vendor machine after she touched it and she was electrocuted immediately she leaned on it.”
He said that one of his daughter’s school mates told his family that Whitney allegedly died from electrocution.
The management of Chrisland School, however, in a statement on Sunday said the 12-year old slumped in “public view and not under any hidden circumstances.”
This unfortunate incident comes one year after the sex scandal involving a 10-year-old girl of the school during the World School Games (WSG) held in Dubai. The girl was said to have been drugged and raped.
