OAU Distance Learning Student Electrocuted While Retrieving Football

A student of OAU’s Distance Learning Centre was tragically electrocuted in Moro, Osun State, while attempting to retrieve a football that had fallen into a nearby compound.

A tragic incident occurred on Saturday evening in Moro, Osun State, as a student of the Obafemi Awolowo University’s Centre for Distance Learning (CDL) lost his life by electrocution while attempting to retrieve a football.

Eyewitnesses reported that the unnamed student had been playing football with friends in a private hostel located along the Moro/Ife road when the ball flew over a fence into a nearby compound. He volunteered to retrieve it and successfully threw the ball back to his peers. However, while attempting to scale the fence to return, he made contact with a high-tension wire reportedly brought down by a recent rainstorm, resulting in his electrocution.

A resident of the area, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, recounted the incident to PUNCH Online, stating, “He was playing football with others in his hostel when the ball went over the fence. He crossed over to get it, but on his way back, he accidentally touched a dangling high-tension wire. The wire had been hanging since Friday after a heavy storm.”

His friends, realizing he wasn’t moving, used a stick to separate him from the live wire and rushed him to a private hospital in Ipetumodu. Sadly, he was confirmed dead on arrival.

Confirming the incident, the university’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, expressed deep sorrow and extended condolences to the family of the deceased. He described the student as a promising young man with aspirations of transitioning to the main university after completing his distance learning program.

“It’s truly heartbreaking,” Olanrewaju said. “Reports say he was playing with his peers when the ball fell into another compound. Following their rule, the person who kicked the ball had to retrieve it. Unfortunately, in the process of returning, he unknowingly grabbed a high-tension cable. That contact led to his tragic electrocution.”

Olanrewaju also noted that the Director of the CDL, Professor Femi Koya, has reached out to the student’s family to convey the university’s condolences and provide support during this difficult time.

The incident adds to growing concerns about infrastructural hazards and safety in student accommodations off campus.

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SOURCES: ALLSCHOOL, PUNCH