Police, Unilorin react to death of final year student

The Kwara State Police Command and the authorities of the University of Ilorin have confirmed the death of Adigun Olawale, a final year student who reportedly committed suicide after failing his final year project.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the 27- year old student of the Faculty of Agriculture, who was found dead on Thursday, failed his final year project last session and was made to repeat the class.

According to New Telegraph, the deceased had a grade of Second Class Upper Division. However, with the failed project, his grade dropped to Second Class Lower Division.

He died after allegedly drinking a pesticide, Sniper.

It was gathered that in a social media note left behind, the deceased indicated that he had been accused of ‘copy and paste’, a reference to plagiarism.

Also, it was reported that going by records from his social media interactions, 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 other men in life.

He had uploaded a picture of the Sniper on his WhatsApp page at about 5.14 p.m., some two hours after he had lamented online about his situation to his friend.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the institution, Kunle Akogun, told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that the incident is true.

“It is an unfortunate incident and we condole with the family of the boy.”

However, when quizzed if the school has ascertained that the deceased failed his final year project, which led to a grade setback, Mr Akogun noted that he was not aware.

He then advised students against suicide.

“There is no reason whatsoever, for a man to kill himself. Students should be hopeful in whatsoever circumstance they find themselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, the state police public relations officer, Ajayi Okasanmi said although investigation is still ongoing, it was gathered that the student committed suicide as a result of poor performance in his studies.

“The deed has been done and so far, we have suspected that it is suicide. We are still on it,” he noted.

It should be recalled that another final year student of the school, Alade Babatunde, was recently expelled for alleged examination malpractice and he has made an appeal to the management of the institution for a review of the decision.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the student, who was caught with a blackberry phone in an examination hall, was not allowed to exercise his rights to fair hearing as against the provisions of the students’ handbook.