WHEN the First Lady of Lagos State, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, says that the unfortunate demise of Sylvester Oromoni Junior is a "big slap on the face of the education sector, the community, and Lagos", there are a few things we need to insist on in spite of the pragmatics of her words. Young Syl's death is much more than just a slap.
Like many public officials and politicians who obviously have an emotional stake in the "elite" Dowen College, the wife of Lagos State governor has torn a leaf out of her husband's book to state the obvious and use words to pacify the people of Lagos. But she has not done a good job in convincing us that the political class —who happen to make up the bulk of Dowen College patrons— is truly investing in seeking to find the ugly truth behind the hostel doors of Dowen College.
"It’s a big slap on the face of the education sector, the community, and Lagos State as a whole", she said. Well, this is more than a puny slap to the reputation of our educational community and the acclaimed centre of excellence, it is a damning blow to the negligence that has been allowed to fester for decades in our secondary schools —and this is by no means limited to Lagos or Nigeria; bullying is a global problem. However, Lagos must get it right this time and prove the "incredible claims of multiple cover ups by the state government" wrong.
It is all well and good to commiserate with the Oromoni family or send your love to them at such a trying time, but Lagos desperately needs to move beyond warm words. The actions taken by the Sanwo-Olu led state government in the next few days will make one of two statements: we are serious about wanting to know what really happened and are ready to indict whoever is found culpable, or we need to move on from this tragedy and hope it never repeats itself.
The government is tested once again for its integrity and responsibility. We need to know if we can really trust the government to get to the bottom of this matter, even as one of the suspects allegedly boasted of his immunity to prosecution because his parent is friends with the Chief Justice.
Will we only get public condolences to the bereaved while loose ends are tied up, or will we get a public statement that brings justice home and embraces the truth? Mrs Sanwo-Olu's light statement didn't give us any clue.
