*We will not act on phantom autopsy, says school
Chigozie Amadi
The parents of Joshua Daniel Ejigbo, a first-year student of Computer Science at Veritas University, Hon. Daniel Ejigbo and Mrs. Ifeoma Ejigbo, have strongly refuted claims by the management of the Catholic-owned institution, on the incidents leading to the death of their 17-year- old son, and vowed to seek justice.
The university located in Bwari, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has however accused the parents of the deceased of peddling falsehood, stressing that it would not record any gain by murdering its student.
The school also pointed out that it would not be swayed by speculations from what it described as a phantom autopsy.
While the institution, in a statement by its spokesperson, Mr. Ben Agande, claimed that the student slumped and died during exercise in the gym, the certificate of cause of death as signed by Dr. Jubril Paul of the National Hospital in Abuja, revealed that the deceased died from spinal cord injury, broken neck, blunt trauma and asphyxiation.
The parents who recalled how the news of their son’s death was broken to them in an unprofessional manner on April 20 at 11pm, said the Chief Medical Director of the university, who broke the news, informed them that the body had since been deposited at Fatima Hospital, a facility within Bwari.
They recalled that the Bwari Divisional Police Headquarters also reported that the Vice Chancellor of the school, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Ichoku, claimed that the corpse had been taken for funeral without meeting officially with the parents of the deceased.
The suspected foul play, the parents said, prompted investigations, with the results signed and released in the presence of the school’s representative, as well as those of the family, police and a pathologist.
Hon. Ejigbo also raised concerns over what he referred to as threat to life after a text message from the VC, telling him not to speak with the press.
He said: “On our way to Bwari after being informed in an unprofessional way that my son was dead, I received a text from the CMD, saying that the corpse has been deposited at the Fatima Hospital as if my son was a chicken and not a human being.
“In the school law, no one leaves the school without confirmation from the parents, which has been the practice since the boys gained admission into their school. Now, I don’t know why they quickly took my son and dumped him in a morgue.
“I am a responsible Nigerian and I sent my son there because they said it is a Catholic university, but I think it is just deceit and completely different from what they are claiming. If your child is there, you better think twice because the next person might be your child. Nothing will bring Joshua back, but I must get justice for him.
“The school did not report the case to the police and that’s how careless they were. The security personnel at the police post were not aware that someone died and that a dead body was even taken out of the school.
“The next day, I went to the Bwari division to report the case myself officially. When I spoke to the DPO via my brother in-law’s phone, he said the Vice Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Ichoku told him that we are taking the corpse for a funeral. This is what prompted the issue of autopsy. I don’t know why the VC whom I haven’t met officially till this moment will say such a thing,” he added.
In a swift reaction, the school’s spokesperson, Agande, accused the parents of peddling false news, insisting that the school would not be swayed by speculations from a phantom autopsy.
He said: “First of all we deeply sympathise with the parents of our late student over the unfortunate incident. May God console them.
“But let me state categorically that Veritas has no hand in the unfortunate incident as is being baselessly alleged.
“As a demonstration of our transparency, we cooperate fully with every authority, including the NPF that is investigating the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate death of our student. We even undertook to bear the cost of the autopsy that was ordered by the police but the family of our late student declined.
“We are awaiting the official release of the autopsy result by the police force; so, we are not willing to act on speculation of a phantom autopsy result even if that result is being paraded by members of our late student’s family.
“We are sure that no matter how long it takes and no matter how hard purveyors of falsehood try, the truth will certainly prevail and Veritas University will be vindicated of the unfortunate and malicious but unfounded allegation by the family of our late student.
“For us at Veritas University, the death of Joshua or any other student for that matter is regrettable.”
