By Izunna Okafor, Awka
What could be best described as controversy and outrage have trailed the mysterious death of a 12-year-old student of the Chrisland International School in Lagos state.
Loading ...The deceased, Miss Whitney Adeniran, was said to have died during the school’s inter-house sports, held at Agege stadium on Thursday.
This is making it the second time the popular school is making news in bad light in less then one year, having trended sometime last year after the leakage of a video of a female student of the school being involved in immorality with her schoolmates during a competition in Dubai.
The mysterious death of the 12-year old became known when her father, Michael Adeniran took to social media on Saturday night to cry out over her demise, and to demand a probe into her death, while also calling on the Lagos State Government and the police to intervene in the matter.
Click below to watch the ordeal
He also demanded Chrisland explain to what actually happened to his daughter, adding that she had no health condition or sickness as of the time the school bus picked her up for the event.
The bereaved father, on a social media post, explained that his daughter was not sick when the school bus picked her up for the event that day, and wondered what could have led to her slump and immediate demise, as was claimed by some staff of the school when asked what happened to the little girl.
He wrote: “To the biggest shock of my life by 1 pm in the afternoon, I got a call from my wife that she was informed that our daughter slumped at the inter-house sport and she was rushed to the clinic.
“My wife was at the venue even before the event started. She was never informed or called until they have conveyed our child out of the venue before they informed her. On arrival of my wife at the health center where they took my daughter to, my daughter was lying dead with her lips black and her tongue black.
“My wife called me urgently, I left my office to the place and found my 12-year-old daughter lying dead on the ground. I asked questions about what happened to my daughter and the school authority could not get me any information as to what happened to my child in their care.
“I gave Chrisland School a healthy vibrant young girl, and what Chrisland returned to me is a dead child. My entire family is in deep sorrow, but the school Authorities claimed they know nothing about my daughter’s death and all they know is that my daughter slumped and died.
“My question is, what happened to my daughter at Agege stadium? As a father, I demand answers from Chrisland International High School. I am in deep pain and sorrow right now. If you are a father you will understand my pain. My daughter is highly loved by us. We cherished her existence and we can never allow an institution to gloss over the death of our daughter.
“Since we started asking this question, the school has been asking us to back down from the autopsy, and I know they know their way into the system. I am calling on the pathology department of @lasuth to please be honest with their result. Lagos State government, Nigerian Government, please intervene. Chrisland International High School, I ask again, what happened to my child?”
This was coming shortly after the deceased’s mother, Mrs. Blessing Adeniran had, on a live Facebook video, broken down in tears while narrating how she met her daughter’s corpse drenched in water, while calling also calling for police and government intervention.
According to her, she was at the venue inter-house sports, but discovered that her daughter was nowhere to be found during the school activities. She said it was her daughter who actually pleaded with her to come and watch her participate and perform in the inter-house sports activities, as she didn’t come last year to watch her perform.
She said it was this humble plea by her daughter before leaving house that day made her to elicit time to attend the event out of her very tight schedule, only to meet her daughter in corpse few hours later.
She said, “During the match past, I looked, the first house matched, I didn’t see my child. The second house matched, but I didn’t see my child. The third house matched, but I didn’t see my child. I became worried.”
She said along the line, she decided to search for her child around the stadium, then a student revealed to her that Whitney just fainted and was rushed to a clinic. She also noted that she saw a bus speed off when she was going to where the students were to check her daughter, making her wonder why the should be driving on such a high speed in a stadium full of school children.
While noting that it was a student that confirmed to her that it was Whitney that was in the bus that just sped off to hospital; Mrs. Adeniran further stated that no teacher or staff called her to speak of her daughter’s state, and after meeting a staff, they said her daughter had been rushed to the hospital.
She revealed that, upon her arrival at the hospital, she met her daughter’s corpse on the bed.
“I went in there, and saw my daughter’s corpse. I saw my daughter on her deathbed. She was already dead when I saw her. She was drenched and soaked to her skin. Water was dripping out. I screamed, I called on God. I shouted. I called on God,” she said in tears.
She also noted that the school staff claimed that Whitney just slumped, while the hospital management claimed that she suffered from a cardiac arrest which led to her death.
“How can a 12-year-old have a cardiac arrest? No pre-existing medical or heart condition. Even if they claim it was cardiac arrest, how can one single arrest kill a healthy teenager?” she asked.
She also revealed that the school did not make any single provision for emergency in the stadium, as there was no single ambulance, first aid, or healthcare facility sighted anywhere in the stadium at the inter-house sports event that had over five hundred schools in attendance, as well as parents, guardians and school staff.
Howbeit, the school Management which could not give a detailed explanation of what happened to the 12-year-old girl initially had later come up with an official release and reaction to the incident.
The said Whitney had recently complained of ailment sometime in January, which they told her parents to take good care of when the father came to pick her up from school that day.
“The management and staff of Chrisland Schools Limited, with a deep sense of loss, announce the death of our precious student, Whitney Adeniran; whose painful exit occurred on Thursday, February 9th, 2023.
“We are heartbroken and distressed. Whitney was one of our Day students who opted not to participate in the inter-house sports match past for reasons we were not very sure of.
“However, on discretion, we respected her decision to err on the side of caution, because on the January 20, 2023, it is in our records that she had complained about a not-too-buoyant health and we immediately contacted her parents.
“Her father, Mr. Michael Adeniran, came to the school to take her home. We emphasised to her parents to take a critical look at her,” the school said in a statement.
According to them, on that fateful day of the inter-house sports, the deceased slumped in public view, and not under any hidden circumstances, and she was rushed to the nearest medical facility for first aid.
“Our immediate response was to take advantage of proximity to first-aid, by identifying the nearest medical facility to take her to, where the doctor on duty, administered oxygen and every aid possible on her,” the statement partly read.
Chrisland appealed to the Adeniran family to establish a scientific verification of the underlying cause of her death before her burial.
“We immediately notified regulatory stakeholders and agencies to allow for a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the developments.
“In spite of the compelling imperatives to fill any information gaps in public space, we stopped short of making any media sensation out of this, because the deceased in question, was a minor and is deserving of our unqualified respect.
“We also prioritised according respect to the privacy of the family and were with them consistently, to mourn together. This is a painful loss for all of us,” it added.
The school, while mourning the little girl, said the Management and staff feel the deep pain of the loss, confessing that their thoughts and prayers are with the family.
“As we continue to uphold the sobriety of this moment, we resist any urge to join issues on her treasured memory, in media trends.
“As we await the outcome of an independent post-mortem process, we remain unwaveringly committed to supporting the family at this critical moment and pray fervently for the fortitude to bear her painful loss,” the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the incident said the matter was reported to the police immediately after it occurred, while the case is currently in the Criminal Investigation Department of the Command.
He said “The case is presently at the State Criminal Investigation Department, and an autopsy is going to be carried out to know the circumstances that led to her death. That’s all the update I have for now.”
