FUTA Student Commits Suicide Over Alleged Fraud And Family Disagreements In Ondo

Oluwapelumi Joseph Olona, a student of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), has committed suicide at his residence in Akure, Ondo State capital.

FUTA Student Kills Himself

It was gathered that the 300-level student, who was in the Department of Industrial Design at the university, hanged with the aid of buckets in his room in an off-campus lodge in the Aule area of Akure metropolis.

The deceased’s body was found in the early hours of Saturday, when his close friends forced his room door open after he refused to pick his call, coupled with the fact that he didn’t open his door after several knocks.

Vanguard reports that a friend of the deceased, Omoniyi Enoch, who spoke with the Union of Campus Journalists of FUTA, on its Facebook page, said the late Olona was suspected to have committed suicide following an issue of money he had with his department.

Enoch said Late Olona was the Financial Secretary of his department until his death.

“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.

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.

He requested to follow me to my office at the Students’ Union Building because he didn’t want to stay alone. I left him at the office to attend the homecoming event that was held at the T.I Francis auditorium and also watched the Awopegba match.

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” Enoch was quoted as saying

Another source who spoke to Vanguard said Late Olona was an olnly son and last born of his parents and had some unresolved issues with his parents over his performance in his studies in his first year.

”The boy did not go home throughout the period of ASUU strike because of the problems he had with his parents over his unimpressive result at 100 level.”

KanyiDaily had also reported how Gombe final year student committed suicide ‘over being broke despite having a rich father’