Olona Oluwapelumi, a 300-level student in the Department of Industrial Design at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), has committed suicide at his residence in the Aule Area of Akure, the Ondo State capital, Nigeria.
He was said to have hanged himself in his room.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs. Funmilayo Odunlami, confirmed the death of the 300-level student and said the incident was reported to the police.
“His body had been taken to the morgue and investigation has started to unravel the reasons behind his action, but it was a case of suicide,” the PPRO said.
A friend of the deceased, Omoniyi Enoch, who spoke with the Union of Campus Journalists of FUTA, on its Facebook page, said the deceased who was the Financial Secretary of his department until his death, was suspected to commit the act following an issue of money he had with his department.
“When school resumed for the 2021/2022 session, the Treasurer of the department wasn’t around to receive payment for due. Joseph (Olona) decided to receive the payments from students.
“The President requested that Joseph should send N100,000 to him for a departmental project. Joseph sent it using his digital bank – Carbon. He was debited but the President didn’t receive the payment.
“Several emails were sent to the bank but the issue wasn’t resolved. Due to that, he was so pressured about it and everyone secluded him. He hasn’t attended lectures since we got back from the Christmas break because of the pressure,” Enoch explained
“Yesterday morning, I went to get my phone from Joseph because his phone is faulty and we both shared my phone. He informed me that his HOD called his daddy and said he engaged in fraud. He was very disturbed about it.
“When I got back to the office, he had already locked the office door. He came back to give me the keys and left. When I got home, I forced him to eat.
“At 7:40 pm, knocked on his door but he didn’t open. I left thinking he was still angry with me for leaving him at the office.
“At 8:30 pm, I knocked again but there was no response. At 10:01 pm, I tried again but there was no response, so I went to sleep.
“This morning, I went to knock around 8 am but there was no response. I had to go and check through his window and I saw him hanging from the ceiling.”