WHITNEY ADENIRAN: I WAS UNAWARE AUTOPSY WAS CONDUCTED PRIOR TO MY REPORT, PROSECUTION WITNESS TELLS COURT

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By Ajape Sefiu A.

On Thursday, Mr. Jubril Yakubu, a Prosecution Witness in the ongoing case between Lagos State Government and Chrisland School, told an Ikeja High Court that he was unaware that an autopsy was conducted on the deceased Whitney Adeniran before writing his report, in which he recommended that an autopsy be done.

The prosecution witness stated this during a cross-examination conducted by the fourth defense counsel, Barr. Ademola Animasaun.

He informed the court presided over by Justice Oyindamola Ogala that he is also not aware that the trio of Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Fajemirokun and Mrs. Oladimeji, who were at the stadium on the inter-house sports day, were present on February 14, because he did not check the attendee list.

Chrisland School and four staffers, including the principal, vice principal and two others, were allegedly accused by the Lagos State Government of negligence over the death of a 12-year old student, Whitney Adeniran, during an inter-house sports competition that was held at the Agege Stadium, Lagos State.

The defendants were charged before the court on March 30, 2023, and they had all pleaded not guilty.

Meanwhile, during the cross-examination of the third Prosecution Witness, Yakubu, the fourth defense counsel, showed him that according to the time generated from Google Maps, it takes 3 minutes to arrive at the hospital when riding in a bus similar to the Chrisland school bus that transported the deceased student.

Yakubu, replying to the defense counsel, said, “I am aware that the deceased was taken to the primary health center in Agege, and that the stadium is far from the primary health center where she was taken.

“I don’t know the time it took the school emergency bus to get to the hospital,” he said .

Barr. Animasaun, brought out his phone to show the Lagos witness GPS timing, which showed the driving distance between the stadium and the hospital to be 3 minutes.

Furthermore, the defense counsel told the witness that Chrisland School had three safeguarding officers present at the inter-house sports competition and at the fact-finding meeting of the Safeguarding and Child Protection Alliance Group (SCPAG) held on February 14, 2023, but Yakubu disagreed.

The witness said, “Our fact-finding mission found that there were no safeguarding officers. We don’t know those three people.”

Speaking further, Animasaun asked the witness whether any law mandated schools in Lagos State to own an ambulance and the witness said it was more of an inferred requirement.

The fourth defense counsel therefore submitted to the Social Welfare Officer that no school under District 6, of which Chrisland School, Opebi, is a part, has an ambulance.

When asked if there was any form of inspection carried out by his department across schools under his district, he mentioned that one Mrs. Tawakalitu Sosiq was in charge of the inspection and always submitted reports monthly.

On the contrary, the counsel told the witness that there had not been a state-assigned social worker who showed up at Chrisland School.

Animasaun submitted to the witness that Chrisland School disagreed entirely with the SCPAG fact-finding mission report on which his evidence was based.

He said, “The school disagrees entirely with your report. This report is replete with factual inconsistencies and outright falsehood.”

“It is also replete with spelling and typographical errors,” Animasaun added.

The witness also reaffirmed that the meeting of February 14, 2024, was a fact-finding meeting and that he wrote his report based on the findings at the meeting held on the cause of death.

While Yakubu agreed that the report had typographical errors and spelling mistakes, he disagreed with the fourth defense counsel’s submission that it had a false report.

Furthermore, Animasaun asked the witness why he failed to report the death of Adeniran to the Community-based Maternal, Perinatal and Child Death Surveillance and Response Committee as mandated by the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy of Lagos State.

After the cross-examination, Justice Oyindamola Ogala adjourned the matter till June 3, 2024, for the continuation of the trial.