Student Pours Chemical On Friend During Birthday

The
birthday
celebration
of a 17-
year-old
female
student of
Yaba
College of
Technology, Omodesola Olusoji, turned sour last
Wednesday as an unidentified school friend of hers
poured a substance suspected to be a corrosive
chemical on her. It is a tradition in the 65-
year-old institution for students to pour water on
their friends on their birthdays as part of the
celebration.
It was learnt that friends of Omodesola, a first year
National Diploma student of Business
Administration continued in the tradition and
poured water on her while she was coming down
the stairs at the PGD hostel.
However, one of them got hold of a keg of corrosive
chemical kept in her hostel room, which she
mistook for water, and poured it on Omodesola.
A student of the institution who preferred
anonymity said Omodesola sustained burns on her
face and her chest.
He said, “We actually learnt that her mother who is
a senior lecturer in the school asked her not to
come to school that day. But she lied to her that she
had a test.
“I don’t think that malice was intended. The
chemical the girl mistook for water was the one
being used for the entrepreneurial development
project.”
He added that Omodesola was initially taken to the
school health centre, but was rejected because of
the extent of her injuries.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent on the
telephone, the Lagos State Police Public Relations
Officer, Ngozi Braide, said Omodesola was
currently receiving medical treatment at the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital.
She said all efforts to get the school authorities to
hand over the accused to the police had proved
abortive.
She said, “On Thursday evening Omodesola’s
father, Kayode, made a verbal report of the incident
at the Sabo Police Division.
“The DPO has reached out to the school’s Chief
Security Officer and the Students Affairs Unit to get
the accused interrogated by the police for proper
investigation of the matter but they have yet to do
that.
“There is no official communication from the school
authority to give us the reason behind that. The last
time the DPO spoke with the CSO, he said the
Rector wanted to deal with the matter internally.”
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Adekunle Adams, on the telephone, he said the college was working in collaboration with the parents of the victim to bring her back to normal.
He said, “Bathing people with water on their
birthdays on the school campus, had been a norm
amongst the students and they do this out of sheer
youthful exuberance.
“In all fairness, the incident was purely accidental.
The suspect in the case had been reporting at the
unit investigating the matter and she had been
remorseful. She was even part of those who rushed
her to the health centre.
“The college is waiting for the medical report to
know what our level of commitment will be in
helping her recover fully.”