Pupil Who Committed Suicide Wanted To Be A Doctor –Father

The Circumstances surrounding the death of a pupil in Kwara State, who allegedly committed suicide, have yet to be unravelled.

For Olanrewaju Oyeniyi, father of a Senior Secondary 1 pupil of Oro Grammar School, in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Boluwatife, who allegedly committed suicide on January 20, 2014, the circumstance behind his son’s death is beyond comprehension.

Speaking to our correspondent at the family’s Shawo compound in Oke-rimi, Oro, Olanrewaju says the death of his son is not ordinary.

He says in an emotion-laden voice, “I know that what happened to my son was not ordinary.  But wherever it came from, I have left everything to God to judge and I know very soon that He will act.”

Boluwatife reportedly used his belt to hang himself on a tree in the school compound.

But how come a 14-year-old pupil could go to the extent of killing himself? Did he have academic challenges? Did his parents rebuke him over any matter? Was there a case of sabotage? These and many more questions are some of the issues our correspondent raised with Boluwatife’s father.

Looking up to high heavens as if he is a stargazer, Olanrewaju says he or his wife never had any serious issues with their son.The deceased born on March 21, 1999, he adds, was a jolly good fellow.

According to him, that fateful morning he took the youngster to his mother’s shop from where he walked down to his school.

Managing to fight back tears, he adds, “That morning I dropped him at his mother’s shop and even gave him N100. His mother also gave him N50 for lunch. He said goodbye to us and left for school. I never knew that was the last time I would see him alive.”

Apart from his father, Boluwatife’s siblings, Eniola, an undergraduate of the Kwara State Polytechnic, and Semilore, a pupil of Anglican Girls School, Iludun Oro, who were beside their father as he narrates the story, are also in agony over the loss of their brother.

Their brother, they note, did not exhibit any strange behaviour prior to his death. Following this remark, their father adds, “I am confused, my brother: completely confused.  I do not know what to say and what happened exactly?

“There was no issue between myself and the boy. I asked the mother and she said there was nothing like that.  The only thing I knew was that he complained of body pain.  He told me he woke up around 3am and could not sleep again.

“I asked him if he would stay at home but he said he would go to the school. He also said when he returned from school, he would sleep. ”

That Olarenwaju insists that the circumstances are beyond comprehension is understandable. Interestingly, the day he was to resume as the supervisory council for agriculture at Irepodun LG was the same day his son died.

He was just trying to get accustomed to the cosy environment of the new office when he received a telephone call, asking him to come immediately to the school.

According to him, a former principal of Oro Grammar School, Mr. Ismaila Okeleye, put the call across to him.

He notes, “When I got to the school, the gate was locked.  I saw okada people (motorcyclists) and other people outside.  When I came, they started leaving. They opened the gate for me and I got inside.  There I met one of my elder brothers and a colleague in politics, Alhaji Tajudeen Bada.

“He was crying and asking me to take heart.  When I now asked what happened, he said I should come to the office.  When I got there, they took me down the scene of the incident. There, I saw my son hanging on the tree.

“Later, I asked the police to bring him down.  They brought him down and they took his picture. We took him to the hospital to check whether he was completely dead. They said he was dead.  They conducted some tests and said I should come back for the result.

“But because I did not want my son’s corpse to suffer, I begged the police that they should release it to me for burial.”

Olanrewaju, who later intermittently relapses into weeping as he narrates the story, adds that Boluwatife was quiet and easy-going. Declaring that his son was not exceptionally brilliant, he however, notes that he had the ambition to become either a medical doctor or an engineer.

He adds, “He was good in repairing electronics and some other minor engineering works.”

A neighbour of the Oyeniyi family, Mrs. Temitayo Oni, also attests to the deceased good nature.

“Boluwatife was responsible, dutiful and honest. He was not quarrelsome but got along with his mates,” she says.

When contacted, the Principal of Oro Grammar School, Mr. Alfred Abogunrin, declined to comment on the tragedy, saying he was as a civil servant.The secretary, Council of Obas and Chiefs of Oro Kingdom, Chief Rapheal Babatunde, told our correspondent that the community was still in shock over the tragedy.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Okesanmi Ajayi, the police are still investigating the matter. In all, Boluwatife is gone, leaving his family, colleagues and members of the Oro community in shock.