Pupil dies ‘while feeding’ in Abuja school

Tragedy struck at BrickHall Schools located in the Cadastral Zone B11, Kaura in Abuja, on Wednesday, when a four-year-old pupil, Miguel Ovoke, died during the school’s feeding hours.

According to the death certificate dated April 24, 2024, issued by Excel Specialist Hospital, Abuja, which was sighted by our correspondent, Ovoke was brought to the hospital by his teachers around 11 am in an unconscious state.

The medical report, signed by Dr. Akinwande Ajayi, on behalf of the medical director, indicated that he was brought in, “on account of aspiration on meat while feeding at school.”

The hospital said upon examination, the medical team found that the boy’s pupils were fixed and dilated, with a nomreactive response to light.

His peripheral pulses were said to be “impalpable, blood pressure was unrecordable, and there was no cardiopulmonary activity or respiratory excursions,” the report indicated, noting that all the efforts of the medical team to resuscitate the boy failed.

The report concluded that he was “Brought in Dead.”

It was reported  that the parents of the deceased, suspecting foul play, had contacted a lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, to handle the case on their behalf.

Adeyanju confirmed the development on Thursday.

“We are writing a petition to the state Commissioner of Police on the matter,” the lawyer said.

Miguel Ovoke was said to have been dropped off at school in the morning, only for his mother to receive a call from her husband, said to be currently in Aba for a business transaction, informing her that Miguel’s school had called him to come, according to Adeyanju.

“So the wife quickly rushed to the school, only to find out that Miguel was dead. The school claimed that he had experienced a seizure and died, but she was told by other pupils who saw him dead in the toilet that they had informed the teachers he was having a seizure. However, the teachers told the four-year-old boy to go and ‘sneeze it out’ in the toilet, where he died.

“When the mother requested the CCTV footage, they refused to provide it. However, with the intervention of the Garki DPO, they claimed the CCTV footage had crashed. Only today’s footage crashed, while other CCTVs were working. The footage to show what happened to Miguel is not there, which clearly implies they have wiped it. They even blamed the mother for reporting to the police. As of now, they have failed to report the matter to the police,” Adeyanju told PUNCH Metro.

Attempts to get the reaction of the school authorities as of the time of filing this report yielded no fruit as it had yet to respond to an email sent to its known email address.

Our correspondent also called and sent messages to the Head of School, Gloria Ijezie, to get the school’s reaction. However, these efforts proved abortive as the calls to her line were redirected and the messages sent to her as of press time remained unanswered.

The FCT Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, said the police had begun an investigation into the matter.

“The incident was reported today, April 25, 2024, at the Wuye Divisional Police headquarters. An investigation has commenced and the outcome will be communicated soon.”