PUNCH Metro learnt that it is a tradition in the
65-year-old institution for students to pour water on their friends on
their birthdays as part of the celebration.
It was learnt that friends of Omodesola, a first year
National Diploma student of Business Administration continued in the
tradition and poured water on her while she was coming down the stairs
at the PGD hostel.
However, one of them got hold of a keg of corrosive
chemical kept in her hostel room, which she mistook for water, and
poured it on Omodesola.
A student of the institution who preferred anonymity said Omodesola sustained burns on her face and her chest.
He said, “We actually learnt that her mother who is a
senior lecturer in the school asked her not to come to school that day.
But she lied to her that she had a test.
“I don’t think that malice was intended. The chemical
the girl mistook for water was the one being used for the
entrepreneurial development project.”
He added that Omodesola was initially taken to the school health centre, but was rejected because of the extent of her injuries.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent on the
telephone, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi
Braide, said Omodesola was currently receiving medical treatment at the
Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
She said all efforts to get the school authorities to hand over the accused to the police had proved abortive.
She said, “On Thursday evening Omodesola’s father, Kayode, made a verbal report of the incident at the Sabo Police Division.\
“The DPO has reached out to the school’s Chief
Security Officer and the Students Affairs Unit to get the accused
interrogated by the police for proper investigation of the matter but
they have yet to do that.
“There is no official communication from the school
authority to give us the reason behind that. The last time the DPO spoke
with the CSO, he said the Rector wanted to deal with the matter
internally.”
When our correspondent contacted the Public Relations
Officer of the institution, Adekunle Adams, on the telephone, he said
the college was working in collaboration with the parents of the victim
to bring her back to normal.
He said, “Bathing people with water on their
birthdays on the school campus, had been a norm amongst the students and
they do this out of sheer youthful exuberance.
“In all fairness, the incident was purely accidental.
The suspect in the case had been reporting at the unit investigating
the matter and she had been remorseful. She was even part of those who
rushed her to the health centre.
“The college is waiting for the medical report to know what our level of commitment will be in helping her recover fully.”
When asked if the college was preventing the police from doing their job, Adams said, “I’m not in the know of that.”
Culled: Punchng
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