By TONY EDIKE & CHINENYEH OZOR
xENUGU—A third-year student of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, Mr. Onyebuchi Okonkwo, 23, yesterday, reportedly hanged himself, leaving a suicide note which read “The controversy is over.”

The student was said to have left his room in one of the male hostels at about 2 am apparently for his usual study in the classroom, but unfortunately his colleagues woke up to find his lifeless body dangling from a rope in the unfinished Franco Building beside the Hockey pitch on the campus.

Onyebuchi said to be in his early 20s was a leader in the Scripture Union. Fondly called “Ozone”, the late student was studying on Shell scholarship and held the position of Course Representative for his department. Okonkwo hailed from Nkpor in Anambra State and his body was seen dangling at the hockey pitch with an electric cable tied to his neck, with his tongue thrusting.

Vanguard learnt at the scene of the incident that the deceased who wore a black T- shirt and boxers pants with his trousers folded, even as some his female classmates wept profusely.

Text message to parents over suicide mission

Sources told Vanguard that the student who used to live with his parents at Onitsha, Anambra State, reportedly sent text messages to them hinting them of his intention to take his life, but it could not be ascertained whether the parents responded to the text before the unfortunate incident.

He was also said to have notified some of his room-mates of his plan to commit suicide but this could not be confirmed by press time yesterday as the school authorities were said to have commenced investigations to ascertain why Onyebuchi purportedly killed himself.

One of his  friends who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Vanguard that he schooled with his late colleague at St. Charles Secondary School, Onitsha, explaining that two of them were long time friends from secondary school to the university.

Incident, shocking to us — Dean

The Dean, Student Affairs Department of the university, Professor Chukwuemeka Oyeoku, described the incident as unfortunate and shocking. “No matter what is the problem, the best is not to commit suicide. There is no problem shared with friends and relations that would not be solved. Today is a sad day for the university,” the don said.

Another close friend of the deceased who pleaded anonymity said Onyebuchi who was their class representative was not a poor student, noting that he was on Shell and MTN scholarships, “I am surprised and shocked about what could have led him to take his life.”

“We attended lecture together on Wednesday afternoon at Centre for Entrepreneurship and Development Research. He sent me and some students text messages around 11.43pm to come and meet him in Cricket Pitch only for us to discover this morning that he has committed suicide,” the friend said.

The corpse of Onyebuchi, who was described as a peace-loving and brilliant student, was however removed by the police and deposited at the university’s medical centre mortuary yesterday.

Enugu CP orders investigation

Meanwhile, the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura, ordered full investigation into the alleged suicide by Mr Onyebuchi.

According to the commissioner, the investigation was aimed at unravelling the circumstances surrounding the incident, which many sympathizers have described as very unfortunate.

”The incident occured in the early hours of May 31, 2012 at a place in the institution called Franco Hockey Pitch where he allegedly hanged himself with a rope. The dead body of the deceased has been deposited in a nearby hospital for a post-mortem examination,” the police commissioner said through the command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu yesterday.

He, however, expressed shock over the incident and wondered why people should take their own lives for no just cause.