On Wednesday, the death of Sylvester Oromoni Junior, a 12-year-old boy allegedly assaulted by his seniors at Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, dominated Nigeria’s social media space, after a cousin of the deceased posted vague details of the incident.

Sylvester Oromoni Snr., the father of the late Oromoni Jnr., said his son mentioned five teenagers responsible for the gruesome pain inflicted on him on his death bed.

While Nigerians have been agitating for justice for the deceased, Dowen gave a different version of events. The management of the school said Sylvester sustained the injury that led to his death during a football match with his seniors.

READ ALSO: Dowen ‘Assisting’ The Authorities to Get to The Bottom of Sylvester Oromoni’s Death

Although Oromoni’s case raised a lot of dust, it is not the first case of brutal bullying and/or abuse in Nigerian boarding schools. Below are a few others.

DON DAVIES ARCHIBONG

In December 2020, Don Davies Archibong, an 11-year-old boy who was sexually molested by senior students at Deeper Life High School, Uyo, was in the news.

In a video posted by Deborah Okezie, Davies’ mother, on Facebook, she said seniors habitually inserted their fingers and toes in her son’s anus, and that he was was frequently starved and beaten up by the senior students.

Okezie said her son was moved from one hostel to the other by the school principal because he was bedwetting. Persuaded to speak, Davies said the seniors threatened to kill him if he reported the matter to the school principal.

“They said if he complained he would be a dead man,” said Okezie in the viral video. “They will remove his boxers and push their legs and hands into his anus.”

KEREN-HAPPUCH AONDODOO

In a similar vein, 14-year-old Keren-Happuch Aondodoo Akpagher, a Senior Secondary School One (SSS1) student of Premiere Academy Lugbe, Abuja, allegedly died on June 22, 2021, as a result of rape.

Aondodoo died after fighting an infectious disease called “septicemia,” otherwise known as “sepsis.”

Relying on a medical report by the hospital, Vivien Akpagher, the deceased’s mother, alleged her daughter was raped. According to her, this led to complications that killed her.

As contained in the hospital report, Aondodoo “died of sepsis, as a result of a decayed condom found in her, which had raised concerns that she might have been a victim of sexual assault.”

However, an FCT police autopsy, backed by two private pathologists on September 8, contradicted the initial report by the hospital.

The police report claimed Aondodoo died of “complications related to high blood sugar.”

The family felt cheated. On July 11, Aondodoo was laid to rest in Gboko Local Government, Benue State.

READ ALSO: ‘This Place is Hot’ — Inside Dowen College Where Sylvester Oromoni Died Mysteriously

SUCCESS IGNATIUS

Also, Success Ignatius, a 10-year-old girl, was sexually assaulted many times by her teacher in the classroom. This is according to Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation.

Ignatius, a basic 5 pupil of Seed of David International School at Glass Force, Ogborhill in Aba was allegedly defiled by her teacher, Nwachukwu Chibueze Nathaniel, and the matter was reported to the Central Police Station in Aba.

 “The police carried out a test on the victim in their clinic and verbally told us that the victim had been exposed to a series of sexual activities over time and this would be evident when filing the court case according to the directives of the area command,” Princess Ogidinta, acting director of the Behind Bars Human Rights Foundation in Abia State, told FIJ in May.

UNNAMED 9-YEAR-OLD

In 2019, Diana Mary Nsan, an on-air personality in Calabar, said a 9-year-old Nigerian kid disclosed how his instructor frequently violated him and his fellow students, leaving him with a bleeding anus.

Diana stated that the teacher’s wicked behaviour came to light when blood was discovered gushing from the child’s anus by his babysitter who then alerted his parents. The parents questioned him and he told them what the instructor had been doing to him.

Diana also released a video of the child narrating how the alleged instructor repeatedly violated him and his buddy. He said the instructor constantly forced him to his apartment in the school to rape him, and that the teachers he complained to never listened to him.