Premiere Academy in Lugbe area of Abuja, has reacted to the claims by the Coalition of Gender Based Violence that its students had sworn an oath of secrecy on the death of Keren-Happuch Akpagher, a 14-year-old SS1 student.

The school principal, Chris Akinsowon debunked the claims in a press conference held in Abuja on Thursday, July 22.

Leader of the Coalition, Lemmy Ughegbe had alleged that a preliminary report of the autopsy conducted on the deceased by the doctor appointed by the police, Dr Desmond Okonkwo of the Maitama General Hospital, revealed that she was r-aped.

Ughegbe had challenged the school management to a media dialogue to discuss the alleged r-ape and death of Keren-Happuch and other cases of sexual molestation, which he claimed the organisation had the records of and which the school was allegedly covering up instead of handing pedophiles over to the police.

In his reaction during the conference, the principal insisted that the autopsy result was not yet out, adding that the school would continue to aid the police in their investigations.

“The autopsy result is not out yet. It is a part of the investigation process the school insists must be allowed to take its course. We earnestly await the result and plead that nothing should be said to pre-empt whatever the outcome may be,” he stated.

Speaking about a staff member of the school, who was allegedly sent on an indefinite suspension and later dismissed, Akinsowon said it was “based on careless talk with a student as part of our commitment to making the school safe for our students and earning the confidence of our parents.”

On the alleged oath of secrecy, he said;

“How can secondary students take an oath of secrecy? This is nothing but blackmail and an attempt to divert the minds of the public from the truth.”

Recall that Karen Happuch Akpagher, a boarding school student, died on June 22, from Vagina infection caused from a condom deposit after she was allegedly raped in her school.

The mother of the deceased, Vivien Akpagher, had told newsmen;

“On the 18th June 2021, my daughter had informed me that she had an eye infection and asked me to come and pick her by 5pm same day. But her teacher, whose phone was used, advised that I come pick her on Saturday, 18th of June 2021, being a call day to avoid landing her (teacher) in trouble since her phone was used.

“On the 19th day of June, being an official call-weekend, Keren-Happuch called me, begging that I should come to pick her as she was ill with an eye infection.

“I called the school matron to secure an exit on the 19th day of June for Keren, but was told Keren would be placed in isolation for seven days on her return from home. The matron suggested an alternative of the school driving her to the clinic and taking her back to avoid isolation.

“After her treatment, Keren was distraught when she learnt that she was going back to school and begged to go home with me. I promised her I will secure an exit from the school and pick her. I called the principal, who agreed to give her one.

“Following that assurance from the principal, I got to Premiere Academy, Lugbe on the same day at about 1pm to pick my daughter, but wasn’t granted permission to pick her. The matron assured me that they were taking good care of her and that she was fine.

“Following assurances by the matron, I left without my daughter. However, while heading back home on the said 19th day of June, I received a call from a concerned staff of the school, telling me that my daughter was badly sick and seriously distressed in school on Wednesday, the 16th day of June 2021 with inability to walk without assistance of some of her friends, who helped her to class to write a continuous assessment test in tears.

“The caller told me to disregard claims made by the matron that my daughter was not sick, insisting that she was in dire straits and needed to be taken away from school immediately.

“The caller advised me to come to the gate and make a lot of noise to constitute a nuisance otherwise I would not be allowed to take my daughter away.

“Alarmed at this information, I returned to school around 2.30pm or thereabout, constituting a nuisance at the gate for the next three hours or thereabout as well as calling the phone numbers of the school’s principal and matron before I was finally allowed to take my daughter away for medicare.

“Three (3) days after I took away my daughter, she died in a hospital in Abuja on the 22nd day of June 2021.

“But, before Keren-Happuch’s death, the hospital discovered that she had been raped, condom left in her vagina, which had caused an infection that resulted to sepsis and trauma that led to her demise.”