A 16-year old 100-level student of Microbiology at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Mercy Afolaranmi, has committed suicide, over her poor grades.
The school’s Chief Security Officer, Babatunde Oyatokun, in an interview with Premiumtimes, said Mercy poisoned herself by taking a mixture of rat poison and battery extract. “We got a call that one of our students took poison.
We got to hospital to realize that she mixed rat poison. She gave us the contact of her parents but before they arrived, she already gave up due to the effect of the poison she took.” Bimpe Oni who is a student of the school and a neighbor of the deceased, said Mercy who lived off campus, took “rat poison mixed with battery extract” and then died on Thursday October 26th.
A classmate of the deceased said she became emotionally down after she saw her result in which she had an E in CHM101 (Chemistry for first year students), a reportedly dreaded course for year one students in the science and technology related faculties. “Mercy often isolated herself in class and looked depressed.
She told me she had ‘E’ in CHM101 and has been going around unhappy before this incident.” Before her death, on October 10, she posted on Facebook that: “Above all other things, I just wanna see God, see what He looks like, speak with Him face to face. I don’t wanna miss heaven. LORD HELP ME.” Mercy’s family members have been devastated since the news of her death got to them
