Family Accuses School Of Negligence As Another Student Dies in Anambra

Chimdalu Onyekwuluje, a student of St. Michael’s Boys Secondary School, Ozubulu, Anambra State, has died of alleged negligence.

Naija News reports that this is coming months after the death of a boarding student of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos State, Sylvester Oromoni.

Speaking with reporters during the burial of his son on Saturday, the father of the deceased, Prince Cornelius Onyekwuluje, accused the school of negligence and high-handedness.

He claimed that the 11-year-old student died after the school management refused to release his son and failed to call him or his wife to come and pick him up after he fell sick.

Onyekwuluje alleged that even when his son’s health had worsened, the school management insisted that the late student must remain in school to finish his examinations before he would be released.

The deceased’s father added that his cousin borrowed a phone to alert the parents that the boy was ill and that the school management was not ready to release him until he finished his exams.

Onyekwuluje, who couldn’t resist the tears dropping from his eyes, stated that his son had reportedly died on December 17, 2021, nine days after he was picked up by the parents from the school.

He said: “My son, Bright Chidalu Onyekwuluje died out of negligence on the part of the school. He was sick, and they refused to tell us. It was my son’s cousin that borrowed a phone to call his mother to inform us to come and pick Bright that he was dying.

“He told us he has been the one backing him from the school hostel to the classroom every day, to sit for exams.

“Even after the call, I reached the guardian of my son, but he lied to me that the boy was okay and that it was nothing serious. I insisted on coming from Port Harcourt, Rivers State where I live to pick him, and they insisted it was nothing serious.

“When I insisted I must see him, I was surprised the boy looked so bad that he was already dying. I asked the guardian if this was the boy he said was alright, but he did not answer. Now I have lost my only son.”

Also speaking with reporters, the Onyekwuluje’s family spokesman, Ben Onyekwuluje, has revealed that the family would stop at nothing until justice is served.

The elder brother of the deceased father, said a petition had been sent to the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba, to investigate the matter.