The family’s legal practitioner, Edikan Lawrence, said it gave the owner of Full Life Academy in Uyo, 48 hours to disclose what led to the death of Miss Edima Ini Umoh.
The family of a female pupil of a private school, Full Life Academy in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, Miss Edima Ini Umoh, has petitioned the Nigeria Police Force to investigate how the teenager died in the school.
The family’s legal practitioner, Edikan Lawrence, said it gave the owner of Full Life Academy in Uyo, 48 hours to disclose what led to the death of Miss Edima Ini Umoh.
This was stated in a letter of inquiry sent to the school proprietress on March 20, 2023, narrating how Miss Edima died without any reaction and detailing the full disclosures that led to her death.
According to the copy of the letter obtained by SaharaReporters, Miss Edima was declared last Thursday evening after a brief illness.
The letter reads in part: “Our client briefs us that at about 4pm on Thursday, 18th May, 2023, his sister in-law, Pastor Emem Umoh (biological mother to Miss Edima Ini Umoh) received a call from her daughter, Edima (now deceased) who was a student of your school. She (Edima) told her mother that she fell feverish and had a headache and asked her mother to bring her pepper soup and anti-malaria medications as the school only gave her paracetamol.
“Our client further briefs us that the mother of the deceased Edima hurriedly sent her daughter (Edima's sister) to the market to get chicken with which she prepared the said pepper soup bought the anti-malaria (Amatem soft gel) and headed off to your school. Meanwhile, she kept trying to reach the school matron on the phone while she was cooking but to no avail. On her way to the school, she managed to get through to the said matron who asked her to hurriedly come over to the school.
“On getting there, our client briefs us that Pastor Emem Umoh saw her daughter (the deceased) in your car with whitish foams coming out of her nose and mouth and most likely, dead already. It was upon the mother's arrival that the deceased was then taken to Premier Medical Services, off Edet Akpan Avenue, Uyo Where she was shortly declared dead.
“The saddest part of the entire story is that up till this moment, the school has not been able to give a full and detailed account of what transpired within your school campus that culminated into such a regrettable, untimely, painful and unfortunate loss of an exceptionally bright, lively and intelligent girl of 15 years old in your custody and care who died of "unnatural causes".
“Predicted on the foregoing, we have our client's instruction (and indeed that of the entire Richard Essien Umo Family) to DEMAND A FULL DISCLOSURE and a FORMAL STATEMENT of all events, including the minutest details, leading the death of Miss Edima Ini Umoh addressed to the family of the deceased through our office WITHIN 48 HOURS of the service of this letter on you.
“TAKE NOTICE that where you fail or refuse to act in terms of this demand within the time stated above, we have our client's instruction to resort to other legal measures to ensure that justice is, not only done but, seen to be done in this case and this will be without further recourse to you.”
In a copy of another letter written by Edikan Lawrence to the Nigeria Police Force on behalf of the deceased family, obtained by SaharaReporters, the family also urged the security operatives to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
“Consequent upon the foregoing, we urge you, as per our client's instruction to us, to use your good offices to cause a thorough and discreet investigation to be conducted into this case and also permit a Coroner's inquest to be performed in order to unravel the cause of this unfortunate death and bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to book. We count on your usual proficiency to ensure that our client and his family get justice,” the letter added.