By Olayemi Esan, Abuja
The management of Premiere Academy, Abuja has once again reacted to the controversies surrounding the death of Miss Keren Akpagher, who until her unfortunate passing on 21 June, was a Senior Secondary Class 1 (SS1) student of the school.
In a press conference on Thursday, the institution’s Lead Director, Mrs Oluremi Fawehinmi explained that claims by the deceased’s mother, Mrs Vivien Akpagher, as well as allegations made by groups against the school concerning the controversies surrounding the death of Miss Akpagher were misleading.
According to Mrs Fawehinmi; "while we mourn the death of our dear student in peace as we pray for the peaceful repose of her soul, it is very heart-rending that we have to respond to controversies that seem to be generated to cast aspersions on the school."
Speaking on steps leading to the release of Miss Keren’s to her mother, Fawehinmi said; "we wish to state clearly that her mother made two requests on Keren’s last day in the school. The first was that Miss Keren be taken to a particular ophthalmologist for consultation and treatment of the eye issue she presented earlier in the day.
"The school medical staff acceded to this request and accompanied Keren to the requested clinic and stayed with her all through the consultation and treatment at the eye clinic.
"It was at the clinic that Keren’s mother made the second request – to take Keren home for the weekend. This request could not be granted at the clinic as the school’s medical staff who accompanied Keren to the clinic does not have the capacity to grant such a request. She insisted on taking Keren back to school," she noted.
The Director added that what Mrs Akpagher referred to as a reluctance of the school could be the insistence of the medical staff on taking Keren back to the school from the clinic as was required of her.
"She left her daughter to the medical staff who took her back to the school. Later, the same day, Mrs Akpagher came to the school and made a formal request to take her daughter home and the school obliged and she took Keren home".
Fawehinmi also explained that Mrs. Akpagher claimed at a press conference and on numerous occasions that Miss Keren was distraught when she came to pick her up; saying this was far from the truth, the Director noted that the school is in passion of footage to show that Keren was in a stable condition when she was released to her mother that Saturday.
"We have CCTV footage where Keren was talking with her friends for more than 20 minutes before she carried her luggage from her hostel to meet with her mom at the gate after her exit was granted,” she claimed.
On the allegation that condom was found on the deceased with dead sperms with claim that Keren might have died of sepsis, Mrs Fawehinmi said that since the school does not have the report, it could not comment on it.
“It is good to note that when the school learned of Keren’s hospitalization, we sent a team to visit her at the hospital. The team, which had the school’s medical staff in it, wondered why Keren was tied to her sickbed and was told that she had hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), was sedated, and later went into a comma" she explained.
Mrs. Fawehinmi stressed that the late Keren was a documented diabetic who was on twice-daily insulin injections; stating further that she was administered the first dose of insulin injection on the morning of the day she was released to her mother but that the school did not know if the treatment regime was continued while she was at home.
The institution’s director also noted that Keren’s mother did not raise issue of sexual molestation in their interactions during her daughter’s hospitalization and our condolence visits saying the school noted that police have conducted an autopsy to determine the cause of her death and they await the report of the autopsy to know the actual cause of Keren’s death.
Reacting to allegations of connivance with the police to scuttle the investigation by a non-governmental organization, the GBV Responders, the school described the assertion as cheap blackmail and an attempt to manipulate public opinion.
"As a school, the safety and academic performance of our students are our primary measuring indices for success. These are some of the major drivers of our quest towards unraveling the circumstances that surrounded the death of Keren. To this end, we have done all that is required of us to assist the police in its investigations. If the GBV Responders are actually after truth and justice in this case as they claim, they should be working with, and not against, the police as it investigates the case,” Mrs Fawehinmi concluded.
Mrs. Fawehinmi, the Premiere Academy is expressed the commitment of the school towards unraveling the circumstances surrounding the death of Miss Keren Akpagher, saying no stone would be left unturned to achieve this objective.
The management therefore pledged to support relevant law enforcement agencies in their investigation and prosecution of the case.
AbujaCityJournal earlier reports that the mother of the late Miss Keren, Mrs Akpagher and a non-governmental organisation, "Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Responders, addressed a press conference recently where they raised issues pertaining to the alleged reluctance of the school to release Miss Akpagher to her mother on request.
Our Correspondent also reports that controversy had brewed between the mother and the school authorities over the cause of the death of the student with the grieving mother alleging that her daughter died of an infection after a condom was found in her private part.
She further alleged that the girl had been sexually abused in the school before being taken to the hospital on June 19 for treatment.
The student, however, died two days later in the hospital located in Wuse 2 area of Abuja.