Reps demand coroner’s report on Nigerian student’s death in Ghana

The House of Representatives on Thursday began investigations into how a 15-year-old Nigerian student died in Ghana in “questionable circumstances.”

Austine Odukwe was an Senior Secondary Student 3 student of Ideal College, Community 5 in Tena, Ghana, when he suddenly died on October 15 this year.

The police in Ghana and school authorities later called the father, Odukwe, claiming that the deceased drowned.

He had just spent 12 days in the school.

However, the House Committee on Diapora, headed by Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, suspected murder.

On Thursday, the committee resolved to demand the coroner’s report on the incident as the starting point for a thorough investigation into the case.

Austine was among 47 students reportedly taken out for jogging by a housemaster, but later went to the Tena beach in Ghana, where he reportedly drowned.

But, Odukwe, who appeared before the committee in company with family members in Abuja, said he believed that his son was murdered.

He told the committee that upon receiving the news of the incident, he travelled to Ghana and demanded to see the corpse.

According to him, while examining the body, he saw that he was stabbed on the ribs and had injuries on his leg, forehead and shoulders.

“I immediately raised an objection; this could not have been a case of drowning. Where did the injuries come from in drowning? There was blood on his face and the photographs of the scene taken by the police also showed that he was foaming from the mouth,” he stated.

Odukwe added that he personally witnessed the autopsy on the corpse and found out that “no water came out from his tommy.”

He added, “His tommy was flat; how would somebody drown and there would be no water in his stomach? I reported the matter to the Nigerian Embassy.

“The police report said it was an accident; there is no straight explanation for how my son died.”

The committee described the incident as sad, assuring the family that the House would get to the bottom of the issue.

A member of the committee, Mr. Aminu Shagari, said, “We have to look at the coroner’s report. But, beyond this, we created this situation for ourselves. If our educational system is working well, we would not be sending our children to places like Ghana for secondary school education.

“This suggests that the situation is really bad.”

Punch