>
Mr Jubril Yakubu, a prosecution witness in the ongoing case between the Lagos State Government and Chrisland School, Opebi,
on Thursday, told an Ikeja High Court that he was not aware that there were three Child Protection Officers from the school at Agege Stadium, the venue where the death of a student, Whitney Adeniran, occurred on the day of the inter-house sport.
He also informed the court that he was not aware that the trio of Mrs Taylor, Mrs Fajemirokun and Mrs Oladimeji, who were at the stadium on the day of the inter-house sport were also present at the February 14 fact finding meeting, because he did not check the attendees list.
Chrisland School and four staff, comprising the principal, vice principal and two others were accused of negligence by the the Lagos State Government over the death of 12-year-old Adeniran during an Inter-house sports competition that was held at the Agege Stadium.
The defendants were charged on March 30, 2023, and they all pleaded not guilty.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday, the witness while being cross-examined by counsel to the 4th defendant, Mr Ademola Animashaun, confirmed that he was aware that Chrisland School had trained their staff on safeguarding policy, adding that he was once a facilitator during such trainings.
When asked if he agrees that the primary responsibility of school safety rests on his ministry, he answered in the affirmative.
Yakubu, the third prosecution witness who reaffimed before the court that he is a deputy director at the Ministry of Youth and Social Development in Lagos State, noted that he does not know if the school had an emergency bus on ground on the day of the incident, but he was aware that they have a school bus at the venue.
“I am aware that the school had a nurse on ground, but I don’t know if there were any first aiders on ground on the day of the incident,“ he said.
When asked if he was aware that the deceased’s mother attended the inter-house sport, he said yes, but added that he does not know if she was taken to the hospital by the school.
“I am aware that the deceased was taken to primary health center in Agege
and that the stadium is far from the primary health center where she was taken to.
I don’t know the time it took the school emergency bus to get to the hospital,” he said.
The counsel, Animasaun brought out his phone to show the witness GPS timing, which showed the driving distance between the stadium to the hospital to be 3 minutes.
The witness reaffirmed that the meeting of February 14, 2023 is a fact finding one, stressing that he wrote his report based on the findings at the meeting held on the cause of death.
“I don’t know whether the autopsy report was out at the time I did my report whereby I also recommended that the cause of death should be looked into,” Yamuna said.
When asked if he knows that his report contains wrong account, because he did not capture the account of the school on what transpired on February 9, 2023, he replied in the negative.
“I was not aware that the school got to know about the death of the deceased until after the event, but I can confirm that the commissioner ordered the closure of the school after the incident.
“I can also confirm that the doctor at Agege Central Hospital, where the deceased was taken to is a qualified medical personnel, and that the hospital is licensed,” the deputy director stated.
After listening to the witness evidence, Justice Oyindamola Ogala adjourned further proceedings till June 3 and 6 2024.