The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has backed Bernard Onigah, its representative at the coroner’s inquest into the death of Sylvester Omoroni, the 12-year-old student allegedly killed by high school seniors in 2021.

In a statement issued on Friday through John Martins, its first vice president, the association said Sylvester’s family had called for Onigah’s withdrawal over unfounded allegations.

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“Our immediate response upon being aware of the said press release (by the Oromoni family) was to institute a fact-finding committee, headed by Mr. John Aikpokpo Martins, the 1st Vice President of our Association which interacted extensively with Mr. Sylvester Oromoni and all the parties in the proceedings,” the statement reads in part.

“Our findings reveal that the allegations of Mr. Oromoni are totally unfounded, baseless and untrue. Further findings reveal that the press release is a calculated attempt to intimidate our counsel who has discharged his duties with the highest sense of responsibility and has refused to toe the side of sentiments and emotions with regards to the case.

“Assuming that the sole intention of the press statement was to merely seek the withdrawal of our counsel at the proceedings, we will imagine that it would ordinarily not be a matter to be addressed before the press, as the counsel to Mr. Oromoni has a robust reach to the NBA and could easily have achieved this purpose without the unnecessary attempt at bullying our representative and attempting to malign the NBA before right thinking members of society.

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“The NBA is aware of the regrettable circumstance giving rise to this inquest and appeals to the principal parties and counsel to abide by the rules governing the proceedings of the inquest.

“The NBA wishes to encourage members of the public who are interested in this case and other similar matters of public interest to endeavour to attend court proceedings where the facts are genuinely interrogated.”

On July 24, Sylvester Oromoni Snr. issued a statement on behalf of his family, alleging that Onigah was disrupting the inquest, and also asking the NBA to withdraw him.

FIJ learnt that Onigah had objected to the Oromoni family’s lawyers picking up one of the court witnesses at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos and paying for the their hotel accommodation.

After making his concerns known to the court, the lawyers, led by Femi Falana (SAN), condemned him.

Sylvester Oromoni Jnr. was a student of Dowen College, Lagos, until his death in November 2021. The Oromoni family alleged that their son was beaten by his seniors in school to death for refusing to join a cult.

The inquest into his death began in January.