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Following the death of a 12-year-old student, Whitney Adeniran, at Chrisland School, the Lagos state government has released a statement. The statement was signed by the state commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, ordering the temporary shutdown of Chrisland Schools, pending the result of an investigation into the unfortunate incident.
This is the third death incident of mysterious circumstances in the Chrisland Schools. The statement reads:
LASG ORDERS CLOSURE OF CHRISLAND SCHOOLThe Lagos State Ministry of Education has ordered the temporary closure of Chrisland School, Opebi-Ikeja, following the reported death of a student of the School, Whytney Adeyemi.
Earlier, the Christland management had released a report on the 12th of February telling their side of the story. According to the management,
She had complained about a not-too-buoyant health and we immediately contacted her parents
The student is reported to have slumped and died on Thursday, Feb. 9 during the school’s inter-house sports activities at Agege Stadium, Lagos State. The deceased’s parents, Michael and Blessing Adeniran however took to social media on Saturday night, Feb. 11 to demand a probe into the death of their daughter. According to the Blessing, Whitney wasn’t ill prior to the unfortunate incident.
Meanwhile, as the investigation proceeds over the cause of Whitney’s death, an alleged student of Chrisland’s in leaked audio had claimed that Whitney died of electrocution, having touched either a popcorn or a cotton candy machine at the stadium.
Although, the management claimed that Whitney had complained of ill health and chose not to participate in the school’s march-past and had been exempted on this basis. The school’s statement revealed Whitney had been taken to the nearest medical centre where the doctor administered oxygen before her parents were contacted to take her home.
The school went further to appeal to her parents to carry out a postmortem. This would help them ascertain correctly, the cause of her death.
The statement continues:
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.
Finally, the school announced its commitment to support the family of the deceased stating:
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.
Amidst all of these, we do hope that Whitney’s family find comfort. We pray that they are able to find closure at this difficult time.
