A group, Justice for Sylvester Oromoni Committee (JSOC) has expressed displeasure over prolonged delay by the Coroner Inquest set up by Lagos State government to investigate the cause of death of the late lad, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, a JSS II student of Dowen College, Lekki, who reportedly died from an alleged torture by some students.
The late Oromoni Jnr. died on November 30, 2021, four days to his twelfth-year birth anniversary (on January 4, 2022) from an alleged torture and administration of a poisonous substance that was forced down his throat by some identified senior students at the college.
Speaking on the delay, the group appealed to the Lagos State government, the judiciary, and other well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on members of the coroner to immediately make its findings and recommendations available to the public in the interest of justice for their late son.
Making its stand known in a statement by its Coordinator, Elder Regent Youmor, the body said it has become necessary for the coroner to immediately declare its findings for the parties involved to be able to take their next line of action in ensuring that justice prevails.
It decried a situation where it is taking the coroner almost two years to investigate the cause of death of their son, noting that such prolonged investigation was no longer in the best interest of the members as it had started raising doubts on their transparency and raising suspicions of compromise in the entire process and the purpose for which it was set up to achieve.
The statement read: “It’s unthinkable to see that a Coroner Inquest that is usually set up with a specific term of reference and a short time frame to accomplish its findings and submit its findings to enable parties involved take the next line of action open to them in any particular case is now the one foot dragging to make report public”.
“From our little experience of how Coroner Inquest works, the members are allowed to sit even on Sundays, in order to be able to meet up with the specified time frame it’s being given but, in the case, we have an Inquest that adjourns for two months, come back to sit briefly again and then take another three months adjournment for no good reasons”.
“Gradually, it’s becoming very obvious that the coroner is deliberately doing this to frustrate the family of the deceased to give up on the case, as we want to believe that there is more to the coroner’s delay tactics in this matter than meets the ordinary eye.”
He continued: “As it stands now, we are being forced to believe that someone or group of persons, may have been sponsoring the members to embark on these delayed proceedings as a way of either buying time to manipulate its report or frustrate the family to lose interest in the case so that the perpetrators of the dastardly act that took our son’s life can go scotfree.”
“It is based on this, that we the concerned Ijaw indigenes both at home and in the diaspora are calling on both the federal and Lagos state governments, the judiciary, as well as well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Coroner Inquest to make public its findings so that the family can proceed with its next line of action,” it concluded.
