A student of the Centre for Distance Learning (CDL), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, has sadly lost his life after being electrocuted while attempting to retrieve a football from a nearby compound.
The incident occurred at a hostel located along Ife Express Road in the Moro area, where the student had joined others for an evening game of football.
Eyewitnesses recounted that the ball had landed inside a fenced compound during the match. The student, reportedly playing with the group for the first time, volunteered to retrieve it, in line with a common rule among the players that whoever kicked the ball out must fetch it.
After successfully retrieving the ball and tossing it back to his teammates, the tragedy struck. Unaware that a live wire was exposed—likely due to a recent rainfall—the student reportedly came in contact with the wire while attempting to climb back over the fence. He was electrocuted on the spot.
Realizing he had not returned to the field, his colleagues went in search of him and found him convulsing. One of them used a stick to dislodge the wire from his hand, after which he was rushed to the medical facility at the university’s CDL centre. He was later taken to a Catholic hospital in Ipetumodu, where he was confirmed dead.
The university has confirmed the incident. Speaking to The Nation on Sunday, OAU spokesperson Abiodun Olarewaju described the incident as “deeply unfortunate.”
“We lost a promising young man — a CDL student who had hoped to continue into the university’s main programme,” he said. “He had joined a group of fellow students for football, and sadly, in an attempt to retrieve the ball, he unknowingly grabbed a live wire while climbing back over the fence.”
Olarewaju added that the Director of the Centre for Distance Learning, Professor Femi Koya, had contacted the deceased’s family to inform them of the heartbreaking development.
