More details have emerged on why Olona Babajide Joseph, a 300-level student of the department of Industrial Design decided to take his own life and found hanging lifeless in his room on Saturday.
It was gathered that, until his death, Joseph was the Financial Secretary of his department and also had a clothing brand called ‘Tart Angles.’
In an exclusive interview, Enoch Omoniyi, his close friend and neighbour, recounted what led to the suicide.
Enoch said, “When school resumed for the 2021/2022 session, the Treasurer of the department wasn’t around to receive payment for due. Joseph decided to receive the payments from students.
The President requested that Joseph should send one hundred thousand naira (?100,000) 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 mails 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.” Enoch explained.
“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 (SUB) because he didn’t want to stay alone. I left him at the office to attend the homecoming event that held at 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 7:40pm, I knocked his door but he didn’t open. I left thinking he was still angry with me for leaving him at the office. At 8:30pm, I knocked again but there was no response. At 10:01pm, I tried again but there was no response and I went to sleep.
“This morning, I went to knock around 8am but there was no response. I had to go and check through his window and I saw him hanging from the ceiling.” He concluded.
In a reaction, the President of the department association, Owomoyela Oladotun explained that Joseph allegedly mismanaged the departmental funds but doesn’t think it is the reason behind Joseph’s suicide.
“Olona Joseph is a student of Industrial Design and the financial secretary of the department. He mismanaged the association funds and was asked to remit it back.
“After first semester examination (last year), he promised to pay back the money in installments. Since then, I haven’t seen him. I just got a call this morning that he committed suicide. It seems like a dream because the money isn’t worth him taking his life”, he explained.
