By Dele Moses, Ilorin
A 400-level student of the University of Ilorin, Elijah Jude Anuoluwapo, reportedly committed suicide on Thursday.
This he was said to have done by taking illicit drug substances after previous unsuccessful attempts at committing suicide.
He was said to have made two unsuccessful attempts previously to take his own life.
The student who was in the English department of the university was said to have been confirmed dead at the University Teaching of Ilorin Hospital (UITH) where he was rushed to by his friends.
He was said to have felt frustrated due to an alleged rejection by members of his immediate family after the death of his grandmother.
The deceased who was said to be 27 years old had, reportedly, long lost his mother before recently losing the grandmother who raised him up.
“His father had abandoned his mother since she was carrying Jude’s pregnancy which later led to his mother’s death out of depression. Jude was raised by his maternal grandmother who later died last year of cancer complications. The development had become the main factor that had given him severe depression and frustration and made him to attempt suicide twice before the last one that later led to his death earlier on Thursday morning.
“Jude was a very brilliant student and even one of the very best with mastery of languages in the whole of the university campus. Many of us pleaded with him and even reffered him to the school counselling unit after the second unsuccessful attempt which was about three weeks ago. It came to our surprise that he later proceeded with another attempt around 8:15pm Wednesday evening. We actually tried to save his life as usual, but to no avail as he finally gave up the ghost earlier today in the hospital. If he didn’t die, he should have been one of the very best writers of the next generation,” one of his close friends stated.
Some other course mates of the deceased, who spoke on his demise, described him as a brilliant student who killed himself as a result of depression.
While some of his colleagues hailed his braveness and perseverance, some others blamed him for considering suicide as option despite several attempts to rescue him from untimely death.
“Many people quickly came to his rescue, most especially class mates to save his life as they promptly moved him to the school clinic and later to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) where he later died out of inadequate treatment because medical doctors were not readily available on duty due to the on-going strike,” one of the colleagues said of the unsuccessful efforts to save his life.
