Oromoni: Black substance found in victim’s intestine, LASUTH lacks testing lab, says pathologist – Newstrends
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Oromoni: Black substance found in victim’s intestine, LASUTH lacks testing lab, says pathologist

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3 years ago

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Sylvester Oromoni (Junior)

A pathologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr Sunday Soyemi, on Tuesday, said a blackish substance was found in the intestine of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni (Junior), a pupil of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, who died in controversial circumstances.

Soyemi stated this while being cross-examined by the family’s lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), before the coroner inquest set up to unravel the cause of the boy’s death.

The news of Sylvester’s death went viral following a social media post by his cousin, Perry Oromoni, who alleged that some senior pupils of the college beat him up in his hostel because he refused to join a cult.

But the school denied the claim, stating that the boy complained of leg pains following an injury he sustained while playing football.

A coroner inquest was subsequently set up to look into the circumstances surrounding the death.

At the Tuesday proceedings, Soyemi, while being led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Babajide Martins, said the first autopsy carried out on the corpse was botched because the process was not properly done.

Soyemi, who faulted the first autopsy report, noted that some organs that would have revealed whether the victim died of ingestion of a poisonous substance were not cut by the first pathologist.

According to Soyemi, the deceased had a generalised infection that could have been treated with massive doses of antibiotics, intravenous fluid and blood transfusion.

He said, “Following the order for a post-mortem examination issued by the coroner, I conducted a second autopsy on the body of the deceased. An initial interim report was issued and finally, a full autopsy report was also issued to the office of the coroner.

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“Prior to the conduct of the autopsy, I did a total body radiograph to rule out any skeletal injury, that is, fracture; none was found and the radiologist confirmed there was no fracture. Before I started the autopsy, the doctor who conducted the first autopsy was in attendance and he was in attendance throughout.  So, I observed that the autopsy was not properly done. All that was not properly done is documented in my statement.

“For example, at the first autopsy, the pathologist never opened the oesophagus; the oesophagus is the food pipe. He also did not open the trachea; it is the air path through which we breathe. These are vital things that he should not have missed out.

“He concluded his report as chemical intoxication. For one to be intoxicated with a chemical, that chemical has to pass through the oesophagus, that is the food path. For someone that has not opened the food path, he cannot talk about chemical intoxication. A chemical that would be injurious to one, after ingestion, should cause injuries on the oesophagus because it would pass through the oesophagus, so it should never have been anything near chemical intoxication if he did not open the oesophagus.

“He also did not open the lungs; he did not detach the lungs from the heart. If he had done that and waded the lungs, it would tell him that something is wrong with the lungs. These are some of the many things he did not do. He did a botched autopsy and this was the cause of the controversy surrounding this case.”

However, Soyemi, during cross-examination by Falana, told the inquest that he did not carry out any test on the black substance found in the deceased’s intestine on the grounds that LASUTH did not have a laboratory to test poisonous substances.

He further admitted that the substance found in the intestine could have been anything as it was not tested to confirm what it was.

Soyemi also denied authorising a television interview granted by the doctor representing Dowen College, Dr Iwikwe Isabella, who spoke on the autopsy findings.

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He said, “That’s not the practice. I was embarrassed when the report was being discussed on TV. I was embarrassed in the sense that she didn’t perform the autopsy; she observed all through. It’s not the normal practice even if you have done the autopsy.”

Soyemi, who noted that his findings showed that the deceased had lobar pneumonia, infection of the lung, liver, and also infection on the right ankle, maintained that the deceased died of septicaemia.

He explained that if the deceased was physically assaulted or beaten, all the exposed areas would show haemorrhage.

Earlier, the presiding magistrate, Mikhail Kadiri, had a heated argument with Falana when the counsel objected to a question the director of public prosecutions asked Soyemi.

Falana noted that Kadiri was fond of saying the inquest was not a regular court at his convenience.

However, the duo later settled the matter amicably.

Punch

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

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5 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.

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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).

The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.

 

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

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EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

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5 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.

“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.

Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.

Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.

The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.

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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.

Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.

Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.

There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.

FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.

A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.

The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.

Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

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Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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6 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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Yahaya Bello

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.

The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.

“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.

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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.

Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.

The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.

After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.

“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.

Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.

The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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