Mother alleges negligence as daughter dies at Chrisland School sports event

A mother has raised alarm after her daughter died in a sporting event at Chrisland School, Lagos.

The mother, Blessing Adeniran, narrated a series of events that led to the death of her daughter named Whitney.

Blessing, in a video where she broke down in tears, accused the school located in Opebi, Ikeja of negligence.

She narrated that the school was to have its annual sporting competition on February 9 at the Agege Stadium.

The mother said, when she couldn’t find her child in any of the activities at the stadium, she was told she slumped.

“February 9 was their inter-house sport. Last year, I couldn’t go [on time]. My daughter was angry I didn’t watch her march pass. I couldn’t find my way to Agege stadium. This year, I went before the event started,” she said.

“I met the principal, admin officer, members of the PTA committee, and some parents. The march pass happened. When it started, the first, second, and third houses marched but I didn’t see my child. She’s in the Green House.

“So I thought she’s among the queen’s entourage. But those ones and all others marched and I didn’t see her. I called the school driver to ask if she was among those he brought to the stadium. He said he did bring her.

“I crossed to the other side. I saw some students and asked. I told them I was looking for Whitney Adeniran. They told me a girl, Whitney, just fainted and is being taken to the hospital on the school bus.”

Blessing said she panicked and went after the bus, ending up at a health centre close to the Agege central mosque.

The mother said her daughter was already dead when she caught up with the team that rushed Whitney there.

She raised the alarm that the school had no provision for emergency response, hence didn’t administer first aid.

“No ambulance, doctors, or medical personnel in a place where you have about 500 students and over 100 parents. I rushed in to meet Whitney’s corpse on her deathbed. This happened in less than 10 minutes,” the mother said.

“I saw the staffer who went with her. I asked the doctor what happened and she said it’s looks like a cardiac arrest. How does a 12-year-old have a cardiac arrest without any pre-existing medical condition?

“If she was sick with even so much as a headache, I wouldn’t have let her go for the sport. By the time I got there, my daughter’s lips and tongue had already turned black. I jacked her up onto my chest but got no response.

“What happened to my daughter? This is my first child. I’ve never had one before. She was taken to an immunisation centre, not even a hospital. My pain was that there was no proper first aid.

“When she came in, they said she was dead on arrival. I’ve been asking Chrisland what happened. Nobody is telling me anything. They were at my house on Thursday. I don’t want to open up my child for autopsy.”

TheCable contacted a source at Chrisland but the institution said it would issue a statement on the matter soon.

This is not the first time Chrisland School Lagos would be at the centre of a crisis involving one of its students.

In mid-2022, four teachers were arraigned after a sex tape by Chrisland pupils surfaced online during an outing.