Controversy over law student’s alleged suicide in OAU

OAU gate

The death of a 400-level law student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Oladipo Ige, continued to generate controversy on Wednesday as staff and students of the university argued what could have happened.

Ige allegedly committed suicide in his private hostel on Sunday evening.

Though details about why he committed suicide are still sketchy, our correspondent gathered on Wednesday that he suffered from depression.

However, some of his colleagues who spoke with PUNCH Metro said Ige was a brilliant student and couldn’t have killed himself.

It was learnt that Ige left a suicide note before allegedly  killing himself. His death came barely five days to the final examination of part five students of his faculty.

When our correspondent visited the house at the Asherifa area of Ile Ife, where Ige stayed before his death, the deceased’s door was locked.

Other residents in the apartment refused to give details about Ige’s death; they said it had been agreed among them not to speak to anyone about it.

When asked if Ige truly killed himself, one of them responded, “Very likely; but one thing that is sure is that Ige is dead.”

One of his neighbors, who pleaded anonymity, however, confided in our correspondent that the circumstances surrounding Ige’s death proved that he killed himself.

“Although he watched film and listened to hip-hop music, Ige had always been someone that loved to be alone. He used the music to console himself. When the incident happened, I learnt a rope was found around his neck but it was not tied to anything in the room,” she said.

Attempt to reach Ige’s family for confirmation proved abortive and an official at the law faculty, said, “No information has been received about his death.”

His colleagues, however, lamented that Ige’s death remained a mystery.

One of them, identified simply as Ayotola, in a write-up posted on the faculty’s notice board, described his death as shocking.

Ayatola wondered why Ige would have killed himself, saying, “Dipo, I don’t know what went wrong in your head in the last few hours of your life, but I am sorry that you saw life as not being worth it. I cannot begin to imagine the fear and hopelessness you felt in the last hour of your life.

“Depression and unworthiness must have had you so deep in their black pit of despair. It breaks my heart the most that there was nobody you could talk to, vent to; nobody to be a lifeline at that time. A phone call could have saved your life.”

Ayatola recalled that Ige and her dad worked in the same office, adding that she knew Ige since their matriculation day.

She said, “When my father called to ask about Ige’s demise, I was really shocked. When I confirmed it, I sat on my kitchen floor and wept.

“I met Ige on my matriculation day. His dad and mine worked in the same company at that time so it just made sense that we were introduced. If anyone in my class remembers L.O Taiwo teasing a guy who refused to remove his shades and baseball cap in class, that’s him (yeah, that the guy who committed suicide in our class).

“I vividly remember the last time I spoke to Ige, just before the Nigeria University Games break. We stood; laughed and argued and scribbled in front of AUD II (a lecture room in OAU) rating movies.”