…says her daughter must not die in vain
Agony of a mother
T he distraught mother of 12-year-old Whitney Adeniran, who died during their school’s inter-house sport at the Agege Township Stadium of Lagos State on February 9, has described how negligence of Chrisland International School, the school Whitney attended, cost her the life of her first fruit as a woman and mother.
The bereaved mother, Mrs. Blessing Adeniran who spoke with our correspondent on phone said it was unfortunate that her daughter died in such a circumstance when her peers where having fun and happy. According to her, February 9 would remain a memorable day to her and her entire family members.
She said if she had knew that that was what will happen to her daughter on the fateful day she won’t have allowed her to leave home for the inter-house sports on the fateful day. Narrating what transpired at the venue of the inter-house sports at the Agege Township Stadium, Mrs. Adeniran said, she couldn’t make it to last year’s inter-house sports and her daughter was angry for not seeing her to cheer her up, but she begged her. “My daughter said mummy, you didn’t come to watch my march past, but I told her I am sorry that I could not locate my way to the stadium, that was why I was unable to make it to the venue.
This year, I promised her that I would come and I was there before the programme started. When I got to the stadium I met the admin officer, the Principal, some members of Parents Teacher Association and some teachers of the school, we greeted each other and I went away.
“After a while the march past started, the first and other houses matched, I didn’t see my child, then I became curious and panicked, but I remember my daughter told me she was part of the Queen entourage. I thought probably she had been deployed to art and craft or home economics group. It was then I called the school bus driver, one Mr. Saheed to know if my daughter was among those he brought to the stadium for the event. “The bus driver then told me that I shouldn’t be worried that he brought her and she was in the stadium already, promising I would see her.
When I was unable to locate her, I went out of the stadium to check her and later back and crossed the match past line to see if I can get her and a man told me that parents were not allowed to pass through the Area.” She added that, she told the man that she knew that parents are not allowed to cross the line, but she told the man she was only going there to check her daughter.
What I was told at the stadium She said: “When I was about to cross the line, I saw some students and I asked a boy among them. While I was talking to the boy I saw a bus that speed off out of the stadium and I was talking to myself that how could a bus be speeding like this in a stadium where children are, but I concentrated on what I was doing and I asked the boy if he saw my daughter? The boy then said the school bus had taken someone out of the stadium to the hospital. “The boy then said probably the person was my daughter that he heard some people shouting her name when they were pouring water on her. I shouted Jesus!
The boy told me he didn’t know her surname but he heard people shouting ‘Whitney’ it was then I showed the boy her picture on my phone, he screamed and said this is the girl ma. “At that stage different thoughts started coming to my head, because she was not sick and she had not participate in any activity, why would she fall? That was my question. “Another man then spoke to me in Yoruba language, that madam your daughter was standing here when she fell down, I was among those who poured water on her. Unfortunately there was no ambulance, no medical personnel at the stadium, where they had over five hundred students and parents.
Immediately I ran out of the stadium, on my way out I met a staff who said they had been looking for me, but, the staff was so calm and casual and said Whitney fell down, but that I shouldn’t worry, she would be fine, she has been taken to the hospital for medical attention and I called my husband to inform him about the development. How I located her at the hospital She said her husband then told her to go to the hospital and he would meet her there. When she asked the principal where her daughter was taken to, the principal said Agege Central Hospital. When she eventually checked the location on Google map she couldn’t locate the hospital. What I was seeing was Agege central mosque. As we were going we were asking people they don’t know where the hospital is located. “After making much frantic efforts to locate the health center, we couldn’t locate it.
I decided to go to the Central mosque that Google was showing us with the hope that when we get to the mosque someone would be able to direct us to the health centre, but fortunately for us we saw the school bus on the side of the road. I then rushed down and luckily for me I saw a woman who followed the bus that brought my daughter to the health center. “I asked her, where is my child? She took me there, behold I saw my daughter on the health centre bed, but she was already dead. Unfortunately, in less than ten minutes that my daughter was brought to the health centre she was gone. I knelt down and called upon God, screamed, called on her to see if she was still breathing, I put my hands on her chest, unfortunately it was totally silent. “I asked the doctor at the health Centre to tell me what happened to my daughter, she said madam from what I am seeing it was like a cardiac arrest.
My daughter was 12 years old as at last year October. I then asked how can a girl of her age have cardiac arrest, she has no history of high blood pressure, she was hale and healthy, if she was sick I wouldn’t allow her to leave home on the fateful day. She was anxiously looking forward to the inter- house sport. By the time I went back to check on her again, her lips and tongue had already turned black. I held her clothes and jacked her up, she was completely gone. “I was never pregnant in my life, she was my first strength as a woman, my first fruit as a mother, how do you expect me to feel? When my husband finally arrived he dashed out of his car. It was later we got to know that where she was brought to was an health Centre, an immunisation Centre. “When her medical report was given to us it was written that she died on arrival.
My husband also knelt down crying that that was his first child as a man. I cried that they should please come to my aid, that I prayed never to bury a child. The nurses said it was late that nothing can be done.” Consequent upon that, she said since the incident she had been asking Chrisland School to tell her what happened to her daughter, but they have no answers to her questions. “Some members of the school management came to my house and I knelt down before them to tell me what they knew about my daughter’s death, all they could say was that she fell. “I was begging the school management to tell me what happened to my daughter they are yet to talk.
I begged them that they should talk to me because I don’t want to open my daughter up for autopsy, she’s dead. All they could say to me was that she slumped. Some parents even called me to tell me that the school said my daughter was a sickler. I am not an irresponsible woman. All they could also tell me was to accept it as an act of God. They killed my daughter out of negligence.” Chrisland School reacts In their reaction, the management and staff of Chrisland International Schools said they are heartbroken and distressed over the death of their precious student, Whitney Adeniran whose painful exit occurred on Thursday, February 9, 2023.
The school in a statement said Whitney was one of “our Day students who opted not to participate in the inter house sports march past for reasons we were not very sure about. However, on discretion, we respected her decision to err on the side of caution, because on the 20th of January, it is in our records that she complained about a not too buoyant health and we immediately contacted her parents. Her father, Mr. Michael Adeniran came to the school to take her home. We emphasised to her parents to take a critical look at her. “It is instructive to state that Whitney slumped in public view and not under any hidden circumstances whatsoever.
Our immediate response was to take advantage of proximity by identifying the nearest medical facility to take her to, where the doctor on duty administered oxygen and every aid possible on her. “Even as her family made funeral plans for an immediate burial, we differed politely and reiterated the need to establish a scientific verification of the underlying cause of death as mandatorily required in circumstances like this. We immediately notified regulatory stakeholders and agencies to allow for a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the developments.
“As parents, we feel the deep pain of this loss and our thoughts are with the family and friends of this wonderful girl, as we continue to uphold the sobriety of this moment. We resist any urge to join issues or trend her treasured memory on media traffic. “As we eagerly await the outcome of an independent post mortem processes, we remain unwaveringly committed to supporting the family at this critical moment and pray fervently for the fortitude to bear this painful loss.”
