OAU Student Electrocuted While Retrieving Ball

A tragic incident occurred at the Distance Learning Centre (DLC) of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, when a student was electrocuted while retrieving a ball.

The incident took place on Saturday evening in a private hostel along the Moro/Ife route in Osun State.

The young man had been playing football with his colleagues when the ball accidentally landed in a nearby compound. Volunteering to retrieve it, the student climbed over the fence separating the two hostels. Unfortunately, as he attempted to jump, he came into contact with a dangling high-tension wire. The wire had fallen the previous day due to a rainstorm, and the student was immediately electrocuted.

A witness, speaking anonymously for fear of harassment, recounted the events, saying, “The incident happened on Saturday. The deceased was playing football with other boys. The ball strayed across the fence to the next compound. The deceased volunteered to jump across the fence to retrieve the ball, but accidentally had contact with a dangling high-tension wire on the fence. The wire was brought down on Friday by the rainstorm. He was immediately electrocuted.”

His colleagues, realizing something was wrong when he didn’t return, rushed to check on him. They found him unresponsive and quickly used a stick to separate him from the live wire. He was immediately taken to a private hospital in Ipetumodu, where he was declared dead on arrival.

The Obafemi Awolowo University Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, confirmed the sad news and extended condolences to the student’s family. 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.”

Olanrewaju added that the student had followed a common rule in the game. “Report had it that they were playing football in the evening, and the ball fell into a compound that was fenced. Unknown to the young man, he jumped into the fence because he was the one who played the ball into the compound. It was a rule that anybody who played the ball into the compound would retrieve it. He went in there, retrieved the ball, and threw it out to his colleagues. However, when he wanted to climb back, he unknowingly put his hand on a high-tension wire and was electrocuted.”

The university official also explained the grim aftermath. “It was when his colleagues felt he should have come back that they went to check and saw him shivering. They rushed to him, and one of them used a stick to remove the live 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 was taken to another hospital where it was confirmed that he was already dead.”

The Director of the CDL, Professor Femi Koya, had already contacted the young man’s parents to inform them of the heartbreaking incident.

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