A Lagos High Court in Ikeja has postponed till May 2 to rule on the admissibility of treasury receipts for the use of Agege Stadium, where the death of Chrisland School pupil Whitney Adeniran is said to have occurred.
Justice Oyindamola Ogala set the date after hearing arguments and counter-arguments on the admissibility of the exhibits identified by the prosecution witness, Mr. Yakubu Jubril, a social worker with the Ministry of Youth and Social Development.
On Thursday, the witness continued his testimony while being cross-examined by the third defence counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Olukayode Enitan.
The learned silk had asked the witness to identify various documents that he claimed were government treasury receipts.
The senior advocate informed the court that the documents, dated Nov. 7 2018, Jan. 8, 2020, Sept. 26, 2016 and Jan. 9, 2023 were payments made by Chrisland School for the use of Agege Stadium.
The witness identified them as documents from Lagos State Government Youth, Sport and Social Development.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Dr Babajide Martins, however, raised objections on the grounds that the witness was not the maker of the documents.
The third defence counsel, however, argued that they were treasury receipts for use of Agege Stadium by Chrisland School.
According to him, the documents were relevant because the State Government collected payments for the use of the facility and by the Lagos State Sports Commission Law (As Amended) 2021, sport facilities are required to have safety measures in place for athletes and spectators.
Other defendants counsel aligned with the senior advocate’s submission.
Counsel to Chrisland School, (5th defendant), Mr Ajibola Ariba, argued that the evidence must be relevant to the issue.
Ariba said the officer of the Lagos State Government identified the documents.
The witness, while responding to the question asked by the third defence counsel, told the court that the school did not report the incident at the station when it happened.
He added that apart from the Ministry of Education, the Police, Safety Commission and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency needed to know about the incident when talking in terms of safeguarding and child protection.
The witness also admitted before the court that all facilities rendering services to children must report serious occurrence or event.