A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has called on the police to look into the last 48 hours before the death in June 2021 of Keren Akpagher, a 14-year-old student of Premiere Academy, Abuja.
The call comes amid the controversy over the death of a student of Dowen College, Lagos, Sylvester Oromoni.
Coordinator of the coalition Deacon Okezi Odugala said in a statement on Wednesday that there are several unanswered questions on the circumstances surrounding the death of Akpagher.
Odugala pointed out that contrary to information in the public space, there has been little interrogation of the medical procedure at Queens Clinic, where Akpagher was rushed to for medical care by her family.
The coordinator said it was inappropriate to run with the claim by the clinic that it extracted a “decayed used condom” from Akpagher’s body without proof.
Odugala said: “From the information made available to public by the school, Keren was Type 1 diabetic, and was on daily insulin shots under careful management by the school’s medical personnel.
“When she left the custody of the school into the custody of her mother, her blood sugar was normal at 114mg/dl.
“Forty-eight hours later, under her mother’s custody, her blood sugar had spiked to an almost terminal 435.6mg/dl.”
Odugala further questioned the competence of the medical team that attended to the late student during her emergency, stating: “There is abundant evidence from eye witness testimony that the doctor at Queens Clinic decided to sedate a delirious Keren, a clear breach of the treatment protocol for raging hyperglycaemia. Doctors we spoke to agree that sedating a patient at 435.6 mg/dl is like a fatal shot in the head.”
The coalition further called to question the role of the student’s mother, Vivian Akpagher, given the recorded evidence that her daughter left the school hale and hearty 48 hours prior to that time.
It therefore called on the police to make the result of its investigation public as well as release the report of the autopsy.
The coalition includes Save the Child Foundation, Eziodu Initiative for Sustainable Environmental Development, Courageous Girls Initiative, Sunbliss Foundation, Greensphere Initiative, Participatory Initiative for Peace and Development, Lizdon Foundation, Women Initiative for Value Empowerment and Manpower Development Foundation as well as White Angels Foundation.
Others include Greenalive Initiative, Chikasi Youth Foundation, Phew Children Foundation, Centre for Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development and Bethel Rights Foundation.
