Whitney Adediran: Lagos Govt orders coroner’s inquest into 12-year-old Chrisland student’s death

The Lagos State Government has ordered a coroner’s inquest into the death of Whitney Adeniran, a 12-year-old student at Chrisland International School.

The student allegedly died during the school’s annual inter-house sports competition on Thursday, February 9, 2023.

However, to ascertain the true cause of death, the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, ordered a coroner’s inquest.

Onigbanjo gave the directive in a statement on Monday noting that a thorough investigation would be carried out to ascertain the cause of death.

The statement read in part, “A Coroner’s Inquest has immediately been requested, in line with sections 14 and 15 of the Coroners’ Systems Law, Laws of Lagos State 2015, to determine the cause and circumstances of death.

“By Section 14(1)(d) of the Coroners’ System Law of the State, “a report of death shall be made to any of the agencies for the report of death or the office of the Coroner and be subject to post-mortem examination where there is reasonable cause to believe that the cause of death was violent, unnatural or suspicious.”

“Section 15(1) and (9) further enjoins the Coroner to hold an inquest whenever he or she is informed that the death of the deceased person was in a violent, unnatural or suspicious situation or believes an inquest is desirable following the report of a reportable death.”

The commissioner noted that as a government, the security and well-being of citizens are of utmost importance while assuring the public that everything would be done to ensure that the cause of death is known.

“The findings of this investigation will be made public in due course and appropriate sanctions meted out to anyone found culpable,” he said.