Oromoni’s illness was minor, Dowen nurse tells court

Omobola Kayode, a nurse at Dowen College, said Sylvester Oromoni, the late student allegedly beaten by some senior colleagues, had a minor injury on his thigh when she came in contact with him.

According to NAN, Kayode, a 2015 graduate of Nursing from Ukraine University, joined Dowen College three weeks prior to the death of Oromoni.

Testifying before Mikhail Kadiri at the Ikeja coroner’s court on Tuesday, the nurse said she came in contact with the deceased on November 22, 2021, when he complained of pain in his thigh.

“The deceased came to the sickbay with his friend on Nov. 22, 2021, which was on a Monday, and complained of thigh pain. He came in unaided and told me he fell down when he wanted to pick his Bible,” she said.

“On that same day, I referred him to the doctor. The doctor told me to massage his right thigh with a deep heat spray and gave him paracetamol thereafter.

“He slept and went to the hostel in the evening. Later in the evening, I went for a follow-up. The housemaster called him out for me to check him up. I saw that he was limping and I messaged him again with the spray.

“The doctor called the mother when the deceased complained and she promised to send someone to pick him up on Tuesday.”

She said she was downstairs checking students’ temperature as part of the COVID-19 measures on November 23, 2022, when the uncle of the deceased came to pick him up at the sick bay.

“I went upstairs and met the deceased lying down. I assisted him up. He put his hand around his uncle’s waist and he led him to the car,” she said.

The coroner asked if it was necessary to call the mother of the deceased.

The witness said: “It was the school policy I met. If a student is sick, the parent must be aware.”

During a cross-examination, Akin George, the counsel representing Lagos, asked the witness about the kind of cases she received at the sickbay and she replied, “we receive cases like headache, stomach pain while playing football.

“The only one I experienced where we had to transfer the student to Lifeline Hospital was when a student came in with bleeding on the tongue while he was playing with his friends,” she added.

“We had to take him to the hospital because it was an emergency. We also consulted the parent concerned.”

Responding to questions from the counsel to the Oromoni family, Andrew Efole, the witness said she had a medical record of the period she attended to the deceased but it was taken by the police during their investigation.

Efole asked if the witness was aware that the principal of the school had said in her statement to the police dated December 2, 2021, that she (the witness) massaged the deceased on November 21, 2021.

She replied, “It was my off day and I came in at night. No, I did not massage the leg on that day.”

Kayode said she would not know if the principal of the school lied in her statement to the police that she massaged the deceased on November 21, 2021.

In another cross-examination by Dowen College counsel, Anthony Kpokpo, the witness claimed she was not aware of the viral video of the deceased online.

The witness further told the court that she worked from Monday to Sunday. She, however, took off days on request.

She also confirmed that there was another nurse called Kafayat and they were both answerable to the doctor.

“Kafayat worked From Monday to Friday but she was not on duty on that day. No nurse was in school. The two of us are both answerable to the doctor,” she said.

The nurse reiterated that the deceased’s case was a minor one but “we put a call to the parent to take him home because it was the policy of the school, adding that it was the decision of the doctor.”

The coroner adjourned the continuation of trial until March 21.