UNN management probes student’s suicide

1

The management of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has started probing the suicide of a final year student of Agric Economics, Tobechukwu Okeke.

Okeke was found on Sunday daggling from a rope in his residence in Odigwe – a few metres away from the school.

PUNCH Metro learnt that a suicide note was recovered from his apartment and handed over to the Chief Security Officer of the institution.

It was gathered that the school authorities were using the content of the note to unravel what actually led to his death.

However, some friends of the deceased, who commented on the incident on Facebook, said he had invested some money he borrowed in a failed gambling and had hard times repaying his creditors.

A student of the institution, Daniel Nwachukwu, in a chat with our correspondent, said, “The much I know is that he committed suicide because of financial issues. He lost some money to betting; he also borrowed some money. Probably the frustration of his inability to pay back made him commit suicide. I don’t know exactly how much he owed.”

Nwachukwu described Okeke as versatile, adding that the corpse had yet to be removed as of Sunday evening.

“He helped me repair my faulty electrical appliance and fix my wiring for free. He was good at fixing electrical appliances. He shared his dream of going into building wiring and other electricity-related works as a career,” he added.

A Political Science student, Chidozie Emmanuel, also attributed the suicide to financial crisis that had plagued the victim.

“This is a guy I know. He was frustrated by financial crisis and parental issues,” he said.

A check by PUNCH Metro on the timeline of Okeke’s Facebook account showed that he was into Mavrodi Mondial Movement – popularly called MMM.

His post, dated September 23, read, “Have you heard about MMM?

“This is a platform where you make 30 per cent of your investment every four weeks.

For registration, please contact me…”

The following day, Okeke, again, persuaded interested members of the public to exploit the platform.

“MMM is enriching the lives of millions of Nigerians every day. If you care to join or you have any question, please send me a message or comment below,” the post read.

However, an undergraduate, Chukwudi Ifeanyi, called for comprehensive investigation, stating that Okeke might have been murdered.

He said, “I don’t think Nigerians are that suicidal. This could be a staged murder. Unfortunately, Nigeria does not have a strong crime investigating system.

“I also think suicide is never an option. Life is precious. God is the source of life, allow him keep you.”

A student, Ogbuefinukoefi Okechukwu said, “This is stage-managed. One major feature of suicide by hanging is tongue out. The person’s tongue must come out. In this case, there was no such feature.”

When contacted on the telephone for comments, the Dean of Students Affairs, UNN, Prof. Uju Umo, directed our correspondent to the school’s Chief Security Officer.

She said, “He committed suicide and left a suicide note. Contact the university’s CSO.”

However, calls to the telephone line of the CSO rang out. He had also yet to reply to a text message sent to him as of press time.

Source: Punch