The management of Dowen College in Lagos state has denied claims of a 12-year-old student of the school dying from injuries he allegedly sustained after being beaten by fellow students for refusing to be initiated into a cult. On Wednesday, December 1, 2021, news of the death of the minor flooded the internet after a family member of the deceased student revealed that he died from injuries sustained from being beaten. Read here.

In a statement issued by the school, it claimed that the deceased student was injured while playing football with his colleagues on November 21, and was given first-aid treatment after which he showed signs of improvement. He, however, started complaining of pain in his hip shortly after returning to his hostel and was taken to the school clinic where he was attended to by a resident doctor.

The statement further claims that the doctor later called the mother of the student and informed her of the situation and also asked her to pick him up for further medical treatment. The student was subsequently picked by a guardian sent by his mother and taken for an x-ray, and the guardian allegedly later called the school to say that the results of the x-ray showed no part of the student’s body was injured or broken.