A 27-year old final year student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has allegedly committed suicide after he was asked to repeat a session.
The deceased, who was identified as Adigun Olawale Emmanuel, from the Faculty of Agriculture, was believed to have died after he drank a pesticide, popularly called ‘Sniper.’
In a social media note left behind, the deceased indicated that he had been accused of ‘copy and paste’, a reference to plagiarism in research works.
Some neighbours claimed the deceased had been subjected to depression since he failed to make the last graduation list of the institution.
The incident happened on Thursday night at Oke-Odo, a student-populated area in Ilorin, Kwara state, but the corpse was only discovered on Saturday after neighbours noticed a foul smell oozing out of his room. When the door was broken, his bloated body was found on the floor.
Our correspondent learnt that the deceased had communicated his intention to end his life to a female friend who however pleaded with him to have a rethink and face the challenge like most other men in life.
According to available records from his social media interactions, the deceased had uploaded a picture of the Sniper on his WhatsApp page at about 5:14pm, some two hours after he had lamented online about his situation to his friend.
He had opened the conversation at about 3:39pm when he said in short statements: “Same research work. He said I did copy and paste. Ever since den, things changed from bad to worst. Am in a deep mess @the moment. My life don tire me. I feel like dying. I wish I can sleep and not wake up again”.
His friend however responded with words of encouragement, “Don’t give up bros, it gets better”. And as if he had accepted the admonition, the deceased had then responded, “I pray xo, Thanks a lot for ur concern. I appreciate a lot. May God continue to bless you. Amen.”
However by the time he uploaded the Sniper picture, his friend apparently became frantic and pleaded with him not to take any wrong step.
The friend said: “Wale Abeg, Calm Down. Abeg You In the Name of God. Nothing Happen wey God no know about ooo please don’t do anything stupid ooooo”.
When contacted, spokesman for the university, Alhaji Kunle Akogun, said he was yet to be briefed about the incident.
Similarly, spokesman for the state police command, Ajayi Okasanmi, said his office was also yet to be briefed but promised to get in touch on the development.
