By Kunle Adebiyi
A 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Sanni Hameedat, reportedly committed suicide after lending a boy she met on the social media platform, Snapchat, the sum of N500,000.
According to Rubiks, the private hostel management she resided in before her demise, in a statement on Wednesday, Hameedat was undergoing her SIWES programme before the incident happened.
The management asserted that the cause of her death was not unrelated to the pressure from the app agents, who were demanding fast repayment, coupled with her brother’s inability to assist her financially, which led to depression.
“The cause of suicide was traced to financial misappropriation. She was entrusted with a significant sum of money by her mother. She crossed paths with a guy on Snapchat and developed a friendship.
“When the boy claimed that his mother was battling breast cancer and urgently needed N500,000, the compassionate and emotional lady decided to help him by lending him half of the N1 million she held for her mother. And the boy promised to repay the borrowed money.
“However, when her mother needed the money back, the boy abruptly cut off all up all contact, blocking her. This left her deeply troubled and in order for her to make up the missing N500,000, she resorted to borrowing money from various apps.”
Hameedat, therefore, managed to gather N450,000 from the loan apps, adding her savings of N50,000 to make up the borrowed N500,000.
The management further maintained that she was reported to have ingested a bottle of pesticide popularly known as Sniper the previous night, and her roommate (name withheld), who had retired to bed early, woke up in the middle of the night to discover her in distress while she was foaming from her mouth and also vomiting.
“Alarmed, the roommate sought help, and she was rushed to UITH before being declared dead,” the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, both the Dean, Student Affairs Unit, Prof M.T. Yakubu, and the Head, Corporate Affairs, Kunle Akogun of the institution, could not comment on the issue in terse messages sent to them as they both claimed to be partaking in the 37th and 38th combined convocation ceremony which kickstarted on Monday, October 16, 2023.
But when contacted the Student Union President, Ologundudu Adesunkanmi, popularly called Royal Prince, he confirmed the incident, corroborating the narration of the hostel management.
He said, “The Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Student Affairs are very much aware of the issue, and they have reported to the appropriate authority to begin a full-length investigation into the matter. It is sad that the university community lost her in such a devastating manner.”
