A final year student of the Department of Religion and Culture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Samuel Elias, 25, has committed suicide by taking sniper.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, quoted the mother of the deceased, Mrs Kate Elias, an employee of the university, as saying that the incident occurred on Monday, June 17, 2019, around 5.30pm in her house at Justina Eze Street, Nsukka, Enugu State.
“I came back from work on that fateful day and discovered that the mood of my first child was bad and he was staggering when he came to collect a bottle of soft drink from the refrigerator.
“I followed him to his room and started talking to him but he could not respond, and when I looked closely, I discovered that his teeth had tightened up.
“As I looked around, I saw an empty sniper bottle; at this point, I raised the alarm and my other children rushed to the room and we tried to give him palm oil, but his tightened teeth did not allow the oil to enter his mouth,” she said.
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She further stated that Samuel was immediately rushed to the Faith Foundation Hospital, Nsukka, from where he was referred to the Bishop Shanahan Hospital, Nsukka, where he eventually died.
According to the mother of seven, Samuel could have died of depression. She noted that he had been bemoaning his inability to graduate from the university because of his final project.
“I know two things he usually complained about – his inability to graduate from the UNN since 2016 because of the project that he had not finished as his classmates had all gone for their National Youth Service Corps programme.
“Also, how his father’s family in Ihechiowa in the Arochukwu Local Government of Abia State has abandoned us after my husband died.
“Whenever he complained of these things, I usually advised him to trust God, who is capable of solving every problem.
“I do not know why he would go to this extent of committing suicide; I have seven children and he was my first child. It is still like a dream to me that my first child has died,” the bereaved mother said.