It was here that the 27-year-old Charity Oluwabukola Dazan was born, and she was last seen here in January, before she returned to school (Yaba College of Technology, YABATECH), to prepare for her final examination. Many of the young people who had come to sympathise with the family said they and Charity grew up together. They were still in shock: it was difficult to believe they would never see her again.
But there was a lot of anger in the air – much of it was directed at YABATECH authorities. Many of those who had gathered there had read in the papers that official reports from the College said Dazan was a Sickle Cell Anaemia patient.
“It is a lie from the pit of hell,” declared her older brother, Michael.
Her father, Mr Matthew Dazan, sat in an armchair in the sitting room, a sad frown visible around his eyes. Her mother who was partially paralysed stayed in her own room. The news of her daughter’s death was broken to her only some hours before.
“My daughter, Charity Oluwabukola Dazan was not a Sickler,” Mr Matthew Dazan said, firmly. “Since she was born, she had been very active. She associated with everybody; she was well-behaved and straightforward. As for her medical status, I am aware that before anyone is admitted into any school, the person must undergo medical tests, and those things are documented.
I challenge the school to show us where it is written that our daughter suffered from Sickle Cell Anaemia. She was twenty-seven years old, and she had never fallen sick – apart from the normal headache and malaria that people sometimes have. Sickle Cell Anaemia is a very serious condition; there is no way you would have it and your family and in fact everybody would not know.
“I received the news yesterday (Wednesday) between 12:30 and 1 pm. I spoke with her on Saturday on the phone. She said she would not come home until after her exam, that I should expect her on the 27th of this month. That was my last communication with my daughter. Charity was very religious. She attended Fellowship; she usually mixes freely with other Christians from other denominations. That was her own way of life.”
Charity was also proficient in the French Language. Her father (who himself studied French) recalled that only a few weeks ago she had discussed with him an article she intended to submit for publication in a French journal. It saddened him he had no way of knowing whether she had gone ahead with it.
Dazan’s elder sister, Eniola, herself a former student at Yaba College of Technology, said they were not informed that her sister had fallen ill until she died.
“I was once a YABATECH student,” she said. “I studied Mass Communications (OND), from 2009 to 2011. My genotype is AA. Charity was my immediate younger sister. We grew up together. To tell me now that she suffered from Sickle Cell Anaemia is absurd. I know YABATECH Medical Centre. It is very poor. I have once been there. If they are looking for excuses, they should find other things to say, not that Charity was a Sickler.
“Charity was a very gentle person, but she had her policies. But she was very religious. She finished her OND from the Polytechnic, Ibadan. She was the Assistant Choir Mistress at Cherubim and Seraphim there. Can a Sickle Cell patient do that? At YABATECH, she was the Sisters’ Coordinator; she just handed over on the 30th of January. She was very brilliant. Her CGPA was close to 4.0. If she had called us, I wouldn’t have allowed them to take her to that Medical Centre because I know that place. Nobody called us. It was only when she had died that they called.”
It is not only members of the Dazan family who did not believe Charity was anaemic. Many of her schoolmates also thought it could not have been true. For instance, a comment, posted by Afolabi Sarah Abosede, on Dazan’s wall read: “This is so disheartening. How can management of Yabatech and the medical centres compose a lie as big as this, don’t they have heart, someone died due to their negligence… and they still have the guts to say she is a sickle cell patient boldly on media.”
In transit
According to a statement issued Thursday morning by the Director of Public Relations at YABATECH, Mr Charles Oni, Dazan died “while being conveyed to the Federal Medical Centre at Ebute Metta.”
“The late Dazan, a student in the Office Technology Management Department was a Sickle Cell Anaemia patient,” the statement read. “She had developed a crisis in the afternoon of Tuesday, February 9, 2016 and was temporarily on admission at the College Medical Centre under close watch of the Centre’s Management. She was however discharged when her condition became stable so that she could get prepared for her practical examination Wednesday, February 10, 2016. Practical examinations began round the College last Monday as a precursor to the main general examination earlier scheduled for Monday, February 15.
“The late Dazan’s crisis relapsed around midnight and her room mates rushed her back to the medical centre where precautionary medical attention was given to her, pending referral to Federal Medical Centre at Ebute Metta as soon as day breaks. She was being conveyed to the Federal Medical Centre early Wednesday morning when she gave up the ghost.”
However, according to the students, Dazan was actually rushed to the Federal Medical Centre where the sum of N35 000 was allegedly demanded by the medical officials.
“She was asked to pay N35 000 before they would attend to her,” said Akinola Emmanuel, one of the leaders of the protest on campus Wednesday afternoon. “Imagine that? I can tell you that from the breakdown of our school fees, every student pays N3000 for healthcare. So what was the N35 000 for?”
“Unkempt”
It was her sister, Eniola, who was first contacted on the phone. Even then, she was not told her sister had died.
“The voice on the phone said I should come, that my sister needed my help,” recalled Eniola. “But it was too early and I was scared. I sensed something was terribly wrong; I had to ask my husband to go.”
Eniola’s husband who sat beside his wife in the small sitting room also narrated his ordeal that Wednesday.
“We got to the school after 9 am,” he said. “About 12:20, the Dean of Students told us to wait at the gate, that because of the students’ protest, it might not be safe for us to move the body safely out of the premises. We waited for more than 30 minutes, before we returned to Medical Centre. We asked to see the body. When they opened the face, it was as if the body was abandoned.
It was unkempt. The body was not cleaned; the clothes not changed. We were angry; and we complained… before they eventually cleaned the body. Afterwards, we took her to the cemetery.”
Final moments
On Wednesday at YABATECH where students had used the occasion of Dazan’s death to demand improved welfare, and the resuscitation of their union, some of Dazan’s friends were seen weeping profusely.
A student who said he helped carry her on his back to the Medical Centre in the night on Tuesday said she told them not to call her mother.
“She said ‘I’m dying; don’t call my mother; call only my sister.’”
Dazan was very active on Facebook. She had 717 friends and had hundreds of photographs uploaded on the platform. Her last update was a terse comment about human relationship posted on 4 February 2016: “Those who you cherish these are the same who speak of you… Aah yeah.”
Source:Tribune
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