A final year student of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), who is also reported to be a participant of the Mavrodi Mondial Movement investment scheme (MMM), has committed suicide.
According to an online medium, Premium Times, the student, identified as Tobechukwu Okeke, was found on Sunday morning, dangling from a rope in his room at Odenigwe, a community in Nsukka, Enugu State.
The deceased was said to have left a note behind where he apologised to his family, according to accounts by a neighbour. The contents of the note read: “Mother, father, brother, I’m sorry. Ify, may your children never suffer. Uncle Mathias, you gave me all. I am sorry. Death calls. Linguistic department, I am sorry. Okeke Tobechukwu S. 2012/185649,” the neighbour, who did not want to be named, quoted.
Though the cause of Okeke’s death is yet to be ascertained, some of his neighbours suggested that he was in debt, some said he was tired of schooling, others attributed his suicide to the loss of money in a network business he invested into.
The deceased’s last Facebook posts showed he had been involved in the controversial MMM scheme, as he used his page to advertise the scheme. His last post, in September, read: “MMM is enriching lives of millions of Nigerians everyday. If you care to join or you have any questions, please send me a message or comment below.”
One of the deceased’s colleagues, who also did not want to be named, said he was given an electrical wiring job to do at the department of Linguistics in the university, because of his expertise in electrical works. “I saw him this (Sunday) morning, he seemed to have a problem which he needed money to solve,” the colleague added.
The university authorities have also confirmed the incident, but said the family had not officially informed the institution. Uju Umo, the university’s Dean of Student Affairs said: “I travelled for a burial last weekend and yesterday I got a text message saying a student had committed suicide.
“It happened at Odenigwe, one of the host communities outside the school and I was told he left a suicide note apologising to his fellow gamblers.”
Similarly, Chukwu Emmanuel, the university’s student union president, also confirmed the incident, and said the matter was being investigated. “There’s no concrete details for now,” he added.
People close to the deceased described him as a comedian, who always used jokes to awake sleeping students during night classes. “He used to go around to classes at night to crack jokes and encourage students to forget their worries.”