Exclusive! Identity Of Man Who Committed Suicide On DELSU Campus Revealed… Why He Took His Life Will Shock You

By Precious Okoro/Azino Iboma/Paul Masigwe/Emeka Uche

Barely two hours after DELSU Echo published a report on the mysterious young man who allegedly committed suicide on the Abraka campus of Delta State University, this medium can authoritatively and exclusive identify the real name of the deceased as Solomon Otobo.

Following Our report on the unfortunate incident which occurred on Friday, a reader had contacted DELSU Echo newsroom with the disturbing suspicion that the jacket and partly censored photograph of the deceased resembled that of her colleague who had been missing since yesterday.

The reader, therefore, pleaded with this medium to disclose the full picture, which we reluctantly agreed to given the need to maintain discretion on the matter.

“My God, it is Solomon”, she exclaimed in tears on seeing the deceased’s body with frosting saliva dripping from his mouth and nostrils.

“He was my colleagues and we work at Naija Singles TV, we are into podcasting”, she added before the shock drained her voice.

DELSU Echo immediately spoke with the Chief Executive Officer of the podcast platform, Mr. Jacob Mai, who also identified the deceased and confirm his name.

He noted that Otobo was not a student of DELSU although he had come to the university town in search of admission, having previously lost his studentship at the University of Benin and Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro.

Asked if he knew any reason Otobo could have ended his life, Mai disclosed that the deceased recently joined his team about two weeks ago after he ran into financial issues with a logistics company were he previously worked.

“The picture is that of one of my workers”, he said in shock.

“He didn’t come to work yesterday, and we tried reaching out to him but he was nowhere to be found

“The girlfriend came here this morning and was asking about Solomon because he left his phone and everything in the house.

“It was when she came this morning that she started telling me what Solomon has been going through concerning where he was working before because he started working with us just two weeks ago.

“Before he started with us, he was working with a logistics company, and the girlfriend was telling me about the money he collected from people for him to deliver packages through that company but he did not deliver them.

“The girlfriend also told me that the guy had been admitted in UNIBEN before and his mother used to give him money to pay his school fees but he squandered the money. They took him to Ozoro and the same thing happened.

“The guy came to Abraka in the name of schooling in DELSU and the mum has been in the village thinking that the boy is in school, but only him and the girlfriend knew he was not in school.

“All these things I didn’t know before until the girlfriend told me this morning”.

This medium earlier reported that the management of DELSU was yet to confirm the identity of deceased as of this moment.

Reliable sources within DELSU said the university was still consulting with students and other members of the university community for a possible identification of the deceased, who is believed to have committed suicide judging by the items found around him.

When our reporters visited the scene, an uncompleted auditorium beside the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences located at Site 3 of the university’s Abraka campus, the area was sealed off by men of the Nigerian Police with a pocket of crowd hovering around the premises to witness the unfortunate incident.

Rumours had earlier suggested that the deceased had braided hair and took his life by drinking sniper, but the photographs of the deceased obtained by DELSU Echo suggested otherwise.

A careful observation of the photographs (partly censored above because of the sensitive nature of the matter), the deceased’s hair, though full, was not braided, and no can of sniper was seen around the premises.

Instead, a can of NCP (a liquid antiseptic), a can of fanta and a sachet of Action Bitter were easily seen around the scene.

Also, frothing saliva was seen dripping from the deceased’s mouth and nostrils.

“We don’t know whether he is a student, because it has not been confirmed that he is a student”, said a management source familiar with the matter.

“We are yet to identify him to confirm that he is actually a student. Students, for now, are not around; they are on holidays.

“No ID card (was found on him) for now, and we are trying to scan all the faces in the university database, but so far we have not succeeded in identifying him”.

Confirming this position, another reliable source (who preferred not to be named pending the school’s investigation) said the university has contacted many students on the matter for possible identification of the deceased, but the search has been unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, concerned graduates of Tai Solarin University of Education (TSUED), Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, have formally petitioned the Ogun State Governor, Mr. Dapo Abiodun, seeking clarity on the management of funds contributed by alumni members. 

This action follows protests over a substantial increase in the association’s membership fee.