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Man tackles Bowen varsity over daughter’s death during devotion

TNT Newsline August 17, 2021

A civil engineer, Kassim Lawani, has accused the management of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, of lying about the circumstances surrounding the death of his 19-year-old daughter, Precious.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Precious was admitted for a Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board programme in the institution.

Barely a month after her resumption of studies, Kassim said the varsity chaplain, one Dr Larry, led a delegation to his house in the Rumukwurushi area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to break the news of his daughter’s death to him.

According to him, the delegates claimed that Precious died shortly after she was found convulsing in the hostel due to an illness that prevented her from leading prayers during the morning devotion.

He also stated that the delegates indicated the varsity’s readiness to take care of her burial expenses.

Our correspondent learnt that the family agreed with the proposed burial arrangement, but demanded an autopsy to ascertain the cause of the teenager’s death.

Her father said the matter took another turn when the family visited the school.

“While our relatives were talking to some of my daughter’s colleagues who witnessed the incident, they said Precious actually led the prayer on the fateful day, and that while all of them closed their eyes in prayers, they heard a loud bang.

“As they quickly opened their eyes, they discovered that Precious had fallen some meters below a narrow corridor in front of the hostel, where the prayer session was being held.

“As the students rushed down to see what might have happened, they discovered that she had a cracked skull; she was eventually taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead,” he added.

An autopsy report obtained by PUNCH Metro revealed that the victim died from “intracranial haemorrhage, skull fracture, blunt force trauma to the head.”

The time and date of death were stated as 7am, December 5, 2020.

Kassim said when the school management was confronted with the report, the family was informed that the varsity had equally conducted an internal investigation.

However, it reportedly refused to share the report of the investigation with the family.

“The school claimed that Precious was found convulsing on the floor of the hostel prior to her death, but she never had any history of convulsion. The school promised to release my daughter’s medical record to the family, but refused to do so till date. What is Bowen University hiding?

“They volunteered to bury her in the school cemetery with all expenses to be taken care of by the school. We were in shock and had no choice, but to agree. We had no reason whatsoever to doubt the school.

“However, the mystery, the disparities, the lies, and the suspected cover-up by the school on the real cause of Precious’ death opened up the real reason for the school’s actions.

“Bowen University never wanted us to discover the real cause of my daughter’s death. It chose not to call us immediately after she died because we would have visited the school and upon discovering her cracked skull would have demanded answers,” an enraged Kassim added.

A spokesman for Bowen University, Toba Adaramola, said the management would react later.

He said, “The situation is regrettable; nobody will ever wish for something like that to happen. Maybe at the appropriate time, the school will react.”

(The PUNCH)