A student of Obafemi Awolowo University’s Centre for Distance Learning in Ile-Ife has been electrocuted while attempting to retrieve a football in Moro area of the Osun State.
It was gathered that the incident occurred on Saturday at a private hostel located along Moro Ife Road, where the student had been playing football with his friends.
Speaking over the incident, OAU Public Relations Officer, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, on Sunday, condoled the family of the deceased.
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He said: “It is unfortunate that we recorded an incident that was not palatable yesterday (Saturday) where we lost a prominent youngster; one of our CDL students who was aspiring to come to the university after the completion of his programme.
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“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 man, he jumped into 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 will go to retrieve it.
“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 high-tension wire and got electrocuted.
“It was when his colleagues felt he should have come back, that they went to check and saw that he was there shivering. They rushed to him and one of them picked a stick and removed the life wire from his hand. He was rushed to the facility at the Center for Distance Learning at the university.
“They said he was brought in dead and they took him to another hospital where they said the boy was already dead. The Director of the CDL, Professor Femi Koya had already contacted the parents to relate the unfortunate incident to them.”
