By Aishat Ibrahim
In an unexpected twist of events, the Lagos State Government, earlier this week, exonerated Dowen College over the controversial death of a student, 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni.
The authorities cleared the school, acting on the legal advice of Director of Public Prosecutor, Ms. Adetutu Oshinusi, which stated that Sylvester died of some infections as against his father’s claims that he was beaten and poisoned by his colleagues.
Though the development expectedly met with mixed reactions from Nigerians, this writer believes that Lami Phillips, daughter of the school owner, might have gotten good chance to resurface since she went AWOL.
Recall that after the unfortunate incident happened on November 30, 2021, the talented singer and songwriter, who is the Executive Director of Students Affairs at the school, has reportedly been off the grid and kept mute about the event.
Lami Phillips was also said to have deactivated her Instagram accounts to avoid further ‘dragging’ by members of the public who expected her to speak the truth about the circumstances that led to Sylvester’s death.
Disappointedly, many Nigerians including celebrities called her out for maintaining a deafening silence over the much talked-about case.
Among celebrities who accused Lami Phillips of failing to reveal the truth about Sylvester’s death was Nollywood actress Susan Peters who shared a 2018 video of the singer making a case for the school after the Lagos State government moved to demolish a pedestrian bridge which they (Dowen College management) built for students to use.
Former beauty queen and businesswoman Elizabeth Jack-Rich, also lambasted Lami Phillips for not handling the situation with concerns as a mother, but rather dealing with it with frivolity.
Her celebrity friends such as Omowunmi, Tiwa Savage, Banky W and Adesua Etomi, Debola Williams were also called out for being hypocrites and not lending their voices to the unfortunate incident.
While differing views continue to trail the exoneration of Dowen College, observers are curious to see the reactions of Lami Phillips who has been a subject of ridicule since last year. The question of many lips right now is: will she finally break her silence? Time will tell.
