OAU student electrocuted while retrieving football from nearby compound

A student of the Centre for Distance Learning at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, whose name is yet to be known, sadly died after being electrocuted while trying to get a football from a compound close by.

The tragedy occurred at a hostel along Ife Express Road in Moro, where he had been playing football with other students.

Eyewitnesses stated that when the ball flew into a neighboring compound, the student offered to climb the fence to get it. Unfortunately, he was electrocuted during the attempt.

“He had picked up the ball, but unbeknownst to him, the rainfall had exposed a naked wire at the place he wanted to climb up from; he got electrocuted and was rushed to the Catholic Hospital at Ipetumodu, where he was confirmed dead.”

When contacted, the university management confirmed the event on Sunday through its spokesperson, Abiodun Olarewaju.

He stated, “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.

“Report had it that they were playing football in the evening and the ball fell into a compound that was fenced, and unknown to the young boy, he jumped over the fence because he was the one that played the ball into the compound, and it was a rule that anybody who played the ball into the compound would go to retrieve it.”

He continued, “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 on a live wire and got electrocuted.

“It was when his colleagues felt he should have come back to the pitch that they went to check and saw that he was there, shivering. They rushed to him; one of them picked a stick and removed the live wire from his hand and rushed him to the facility at the Center for Distance Learning in the university.”

According to him, the student was already lifeless upon arrival and was later taken to another hospital, where it was confirmed again that he had passed away. The Director of the CDL, Professor Femi Koya, has contacted the family to inform them about the tragic event.