There’s a heavy presence of security operatives at Dowen College in Lekki, amidst insinuations that the Lagos State government may soon reopen the school.

Armed policemen with Armoured Personnel Carriers were seen watching over the school and also the hostels which are opposite the school’s main building, Vanguard reported.

The presence of security operatives may not be unconnected to threats by some Niger Delta youths to stage a protest against the reopening of the school.

The Agnesisika blog had earlier reported that protesters, suspected to be Ijaw indigenes, in branded solidarity shirts, gathered at the gate of the school on January 6 to demand its continued closure

The school had been shut down in December following the death of one of its students, 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni.

The deceased was alleged to have been beaten and fed a chemical substance by some senior students of the school. This was dismissed by Dowen College, stating that Oromoni sustained injuries while playing football in school.

Five students and five staff of the school linked to Oromoni’s death were in January acquitted by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution.

The DPP Director, Adetutu Oshinusi, had revealed that the report issued by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and the Central Hospital, Warri, agreed that the causes of Oromoni’s death were septicaemia, lobar pneumonia with acute pyelonephritis, pyomyositis of the right ankle and acute bacteria pneumonia due to severe sepsis.

The DPP’s legal advice, therefore, concluded that based on these findings, there is “no prima facie case of murder, involuntary manslaughter and or malicious administering of poison with intent to harm against the five students”.