YabaTech: “How Charity Dazan died” – friends narrate tragic story

This post has been updated.

You must have heard lots of stories about how YabaTech’s Oluwabukola Charity Dazan of the Department of Office Technology and Management (OTM) died on Wednesday.

NewsroomNG had lengthy chats with student friends who were with her in her last moments. We also spoke with, and were with, many of the students as they protested after Dazan’s tragic passing. We’ve promised to not name our sources.

Here’s their side of the story.

“This is due to absolute neglect on the part of YabaTech authorities and Nigerian medical workers outside the walls of this school,” one of them said.

Oluwabukola Charity Dazan, 27, finished writing a practical examination (French Shorthand) around 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday when she suddenly fell ill.

She went to the medical center to be attended to when the thing got worse.

“They simply gave her paracetamol or something and refused to let her into the sick ward where there are beds she could sleep in,” the student said.

“Dazan was not allowed past the clinic’s lobby. I wasn’t surprised. That’s how they do here. They are pathetic.

“I’m very tired,” Dazan was complaining so her friends decided to take her to the hostel (Akata Hall) where she could rest on a “manageable” bed. This was around 7:00 p.m on Tuesday.

“One hour later, she was complaining of having pains in both hands so we rushed her back to the medical center,” another student told NewsroomNG.

“They just checked her and gave her some drugs again. But did not admit her into the sick ward. She was again restricted to the lobby. They said there were no available beds inside the sick ward.

“Around 10:00 p.m, the school medics discharged her again but this time she could neither stand nor walk. That was the time they could have admitted her or referred her elsewhere but they didn’t. They bundled her into their bus (ambulance) and drove her to her hostel. It was there some friends bathed her.

“Around 11:00 p.m., she started complaining again…this time bitterly,” another student said.

“So we returned her to the medical center. The medics, this time, referred her to the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Ebute-Metta.

READ: “YabaTech, FMC, media are lying about Dazan Charity” – grieving friend writes

“They drove her there in their bus with a letter from the chief doctor at Yabatech medical center.

“FMC officials told us they won’t attend to Dazan until N35,000 admission fee and some other registration fee are paid. Everything totalled approximately N43,000.

“We pleaded with FMC to begin treating Dazan as we would go out in search of the money. But FMC refused and told us to take Dazan’s weak body along on our fundraising hustle. I was particularly shocked by their statement and body language. They didn’t act like they had children or were human for that matter.

“So we drove Dazan back to YabaTech to raise the money. The chief doctor at YabaTech gave us N10,000. Dazan’s fellowship (YabaTech Cherubim and Seraphim, C&S, Fellowship) raised N25,000. Dazan’s roommates raised N3,000.

“With N38,000 raised, we drove Dazan back to FMC. A nurse from our medical center was with us.

“On returning to FMC, we were instructed to follow due process in paying the fees. FMC said treatment would not commence until we presented the receipts.

“At this point, Dazan started saying albeit faintly ‘I’m dying, please help me. I’m dying. I’m dying. Help me’.”

“‘Shut up and keep quite my friend’, a doctor shut her down.

“We split ourselves into two groups. Some went to pay the admission fee. The other group went to pay for drip and blood. Our nurse was with FMC staff and Dazan.

“Before we returned, FMC had taken Dazan into the ward and ran some tests on her. That’s what they told us when we returned to present the receipts. It was around 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday now. We were told the test result was ‘paperwhite’.

“They said they couldn’t locate Dazan’s veins. So there was no way they could pass any water or blood into her bloodstream. In fact, they said she had no single drop of blood left in her body. We were wondering what this could mean.

“When the medics at FMC returned to Dazan’s bed, they found her dead. That’s how this evil system took our friend away. Just like that. They said only the N600 money for card would be refunded. The rest wasn’t refundable.

“FMC also refused to issue Dazan’s death certificate because she didn’t stay up to 24 hours at the facility,” another student said.

“Dazan’s dead body was driven back to YabaTech medical center some minutes after 2:00 a.m.

“However, YabaTech medics left her corpse in the bus and failed to wash or dress her. She had defecated on herself in her last moments. They left her there, in her mess, till daybreak.

“It was around 8:00 a.m. when one of us who didn’t follow us to FMC went looking for Dazan. She thought her classmate was still alive.”

We spoke with that particular classmate and here’s what she told us:

I didn’t know she had died. I went to the medical center and searched the sick ward but couldn’t find Dazan on any of the beds. I didn’t know what to think. The medical center’s bus was parked inside the premises. On my way out, I noticed there were flies in and around the ambulance. There were lots of flies. That was when it hit me. I moved closer to the bus and took a look. Dazan was there, dead. She was smelling. She was swollen. The nurses didn’t take care of the body. When the security officers knew what I had discovered, they rushed towards me and dragged me away. I was shocked.

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Dazan (January 9, 1989 – February 10, 2016) was the only child her parent had left, we were told. Her parents live in Oko Afon, Badagry in Lagos State. They are originally from Cotonou in Benin Republic.

Dazan was immediate past sisters coordinator of her campus fellowship. They called her mummy.

Since Dazan’s father lost his legs in an accident two years ago, she’s had to fend for herself. Her mother also recently suffered stroke, NewsroomNG gathered.

“She struggled for the past two years to pay her school fees and get ends meet…on her own,” one of her close friends told NewsroomNG.

“Dazan is just two weeks from graduating from this school and this tragedy took her from us.

“This is sad,” the friend said.

Dazan was, on Wednesday, buried at Atan Cemetery near the University of Lagos. Her burial was well attended by YabaTech students many of whom barricaded University Road.

NewsroomNG gathered that armed police officers and soldiers were on ground to maintain law and order during the burial.

We’re not sure Dazan’s sick parents made it to the burial. But an uncle was around, we heard. It was the uncle who insisted her body be cleaned up. YabaTech nurses had attempted wrapping her up in her mess, with the clothe she was wearing still on her body.

While Dazan was being buried, angry students locked down the school and staged demonstrations at YabaTech’s back gate, main gate, administrative block and the medical center.

They later vandalised the medical center and set fire to it. But officials put out the fire on time. The students said the medical center should be tagged “YabaTech Paracetamol Medical Center.”

“Whatever you say is wrong with you, all they do is give you paracetamol,” an angry student told NewsroomNG.

“Yet we pay over N3,000 for medicals every session…45,000 of us. Do the math. Yet, this thing they call medical center is nothing but a mess. It’s totally useless.”

“All they do is take the money while students suffer and die like nobodies,” the student said.

Students later barricaded the road outside the school’s back gate with bonfires from car tires. As at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, vehicles were being turned back.

Below is the vision statement of YabaTech Medical Center.