A heartbreaking incident has shaken the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) community after a student of its Centre for Distance Learning (CDL) was electrocuted while trying to retrieve a football from a nearby compound.
The unfortunate event occurred at a hostel along Ife Express Road in Moro, where the young student had joined others for an evening game. Eyewitnesses said the football had mistakenly landed in a fenced compound, prompting the student—who was playing with the group for the first time—to volunteer to retrieve it.
“He had picked the ball but unknowing to him that rainfall had exposed a naked wire at the place he wanted to climb up from, he got electrocuted and was rushed to Catholic hospital at Ipetumodu where he was confirmed dead,” an eyewitness recounted.
Confirming the incident, OAU’s spokesperson, Abiodun Olarewaju, described the student as a promising individual who had been working toward transitioning into full-time university studies after his CDL programme.
“It is unfortunate that we recorded an incident that was not too palatable yesterday where we lost a prominent youngster. One of our CDL students who was aspiring to come to the university after the completion of the programme,” he said.
Olarewaju explained that there was an informal rule among the players: whoever kicked the ball out was responsible for retrieving it. In adherence to this, the student jumped the fence, retrieved the ball, and tossed it back to his mates. However, tragedy struck as he attempted to climb back out.
“In compliance with the rule, the boy went in there and we were told that that was the first time the boy would play with them. So, he went in there, retrieved the ball, and threw it out to his colleagues, but when he wanted to come out, he climbed the fence but unknowingly put his hand in a life wire and got electrocuted.”
Concerned that he hadn’t returned to the pitch, his friends went to check and found him trembling from the electric shock. One of them quickly used a stick to separate him from the live wire before rushing him to the CDL health facility. Sadly, he was declared dead on arrival and later confirmed dead again at another hospital.
The Director of the Centre for Distance Learning, Professor Femi Koya, has since contacted the student’s parents to inform them of the tragic event.
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