Student’s Death: Premiere Academy breaks silence, confirms Police invitation

The Police, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have invited the management of the Premiere Academy, located in Lugbe in respect of the untimely death of a student of the college, Miss Keren-Happuch Akpagher.

The 14-year old Senior Secondary Class 1 (SS1) student was said to have died at a private hospital in Abuja on Tuesday, 22 June, 2021.

The Acting Principal of the college, Mr Chris Akinsowon who disclosed this while briefing journalists on the incident in Abuja on Friday said the school had also commenced an internal investigation on the circumstances surrounding her death.

“No stone will be left unturned in our quest to get to the root of this matter as a School and parents to find out the real cause of the unfortunate demise of our dear daughter and further forestall such incident in the future”, he said.

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“As an institution, the safety and security of our students are most paramount to us including their protection against sexual assaults of any type and kind in our school.

“In the light of this incident, we have honoured the invitation from the Nigerian Police investigating the case surrounding her death, where we cooperated with them and stated our commitment in assisting them in their quest to unravel the controversies,” he added.

There have been controversies surrounding the student’s death. While some are alleging foul play, the school management said the late student had an underlying illness prior to her admission into the school.

Matron of the school’s clinic, Grace Alamin disclosed during the briefing that the late student was suffering from type 1 diabetes, which was being properly managed in the school until she was taken home penultimate weekend by her mother.

Recalling the circumstances that played before the student’s death Akinsowon said, “Keren Akpagher, reported to the School Clinic on 17 June, 2021 with a complaint of redness of the eye. Her mother requested that she be taken to see an ophthalmologist on Saturday, 19 June, 2021. She was taken for the appointment in the morning of the same day.

“On her return to the school, her mother further requested to take her home because Keren was insisting on going home for that weekend. An exeat was granted and she was released to her mother on Saturday afternoon in a stable condition.

“The school only got to know about her hospitalisation in the morning of Monday, 21 June, 2021. We mobilised immediately and paid her a visit at the hospital on that day. It was with deep sympathy that we later heard of her demise early the next day, Tuesday, 22 June, 2021.

“The school did not refuse to grant the mother of the deceased custody of the sick daughter at any point.

“On the issue of her release to the mother at the ophthalmologist’s clinic where she requested for her, the official of the school (nurse), who accompanied the student could not release her to the mother at the hospital because the due procedure for releasing a student had not been completed. After they got to the school, an exeat was processed and she was released to her mother.

“Since the demise, the school has visited the family several times – 15 management officers on the day of her death, delivered a condolence letter on the second day.

“While we appreciate the sensitivity of the issues at the moment, we appeal for restraint on the part of the media, at this time we are all grieving, from sharing unconfirmed information that could jeopardise the case and cause further harm to the family of our dear student. It also jeopardises the effort of the law enforcement agencies towards solving the case.

“It is a sad moment for us as we continue to mourn our late dear student, classmate, schoolmate and friend that just passed.

“As an institution whose objective is to make every child who passes through this high school to become an effective communicator, a critical thinker, an independent learner, an achiever, an ethical individual and a world-class citizen, and for the fact that the life of our dear student has been lost, we deemed it fit to provide clarity to a number of misinformation across the media space.”