From Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan
THE death of a 24-year-old batch A corps member, Lawrence Tope Omolare, who died in an alleged controversial circumstances in Kebbi state, on Saturday July 22, on Thursday pitched the family members against the staff of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Oyo state.
Following this development, the remains of Mr Lawrence Omolare, an Accounting graduate of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, was brought into Oyo State Secretariat in Ibadan, around 1.00 a.m on Thursday.
He was laid in a brown wooden casket in the white ambulance belonging to the Kebbi State Ministry of Health, Hajjia Turay Yar’Adua General Hospital, Zauro/Ambursa, while the representatives of the family and NYSC met to sort things out.
Omolare’s death, though, investigation revealed did not go down well with his family members, who had earlier fixed his burial ceremony at a Catholic Church in Ibadan, by 11.00 a.m, on Thursday. But on arrival of the corpse in a white Toyota Hiace ambulance with registration number Kebbi State KB 122 A08, and accompanied to Ibadan by an officer of NYSC simply identified as Mr Alaba D.F, an Assistant Chief Inspector and a driver, they discovered that the death certificate issued by Dr Oyegbile is not enough for them to ascertain the true cause of Lawrence Omolare’s death.
The family then had a long meeting with the representatives of NYSC which include Mr Alaba and another officer from Oyo state, Mrs Kolade, at the secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.At the end of the first meeting, the family relayed all what they were told about how Lawrence died, insisting that they want a post mortem conducted on Omolare’s body.
Speaking on behalf of the family, the cousin to the father of the deceased, Mr Dele Oguntayo disclosed that the family is not comfortable with tales told about how and where Lawrence died.
According to Oguntayo, “we heard different versions of circumstances that led to Lawrence death. And if you care to know, all these stories happened within one hour.
First, we were told that he had malaria and was being treated by his colleagues only to discovered later that it was typhoid on their way to the hospital. In fact, one of the reports said he couldn’t attend the weekly Community Development (CD) last week. They said, when one of his colleagues attempted to sign his form on his behalf, the CLO queried that decision, and that officially informed the commission of his ailment.
Another version had it that he was actually admitted to a hospital on Friday and died on the same day while the third version informed that he actually collapsed and died at the passage of their house.
“But the death certificate issued by the Federal Medical Centre, Birning Kebbi reliably informed that he was admitted on Saturday July 22, 2017 and died on the same day. So, which hospital was he first taken to before he was admitted to FMC, Birnin Kebbi or was it that he was admitted to FMC Birnin Kebbi and was about to be transferred from a Federal Medical Centre to a more better hospital?
“I think certain things should be revealed to forestall future occurrence.
“So, if you’re in our position, we requested that we want to know what and how actually our son died? The deed had been done but we concluded that certain things were not right in the whole process, and so we deserve to know what actually happened.
“We have made our position known the NYSC and we’re ready to cooperate to ensure that is achieved. The burial mass scheduled for this morning has been cancelled to enabled that.”
From investigation, the medical certificate issued by Dr Oyegbile issued on Monday, July 24, had it that Lawrence Omolare died of “acute viral hepatitis.”
