No fewer than four undergraduates of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have died since the school was shut down to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The deceased students were of the Faculty of Arts of the institution. Three were of the French Department, while one was studying English.
Mbah Anthony Chukwuemaka, a Part Four student of the French Department, died in February, 2020. Mbah’s classmate, Olajide Stephen, also died on July 31, 2020, after a brief illness.
About a month after the French department lost two students, The Point learnt that a Part Two student of the English Department, Akinlapa Esther, also died on August 22.
While the Faculty was still mourning the demise of late Esther, death struck again in the French Department. A Part Three student, Marcus Olugbenga, died on September 1, 2020 after a brief illness.
To this end, their colleagues in the faculty have been thrown into mourning. They have taken to their social media handles to mourn the deaths of their colleagues.
In a statement released on Tuesday, and signed by the President of the Faculty of Arts Students Association, OAU, Hamzat Oluwarotimi, the students expressed shock and sadness over the demise of their mates.
Hamzat confirmed that the students died after brief illnesses while on COVID-19 break.
He, however, noted that the association would pay them a befitting last respect, online, since OAU had yet to resume.
According to him, a uniform graphic design of the deceased students will be shared on social media.
He said, “The association wishes to pay them a befitting last respect by proper dissemination and uniform repost of the honorary graphic design due to the pandemic.
“We call on the FASAOAU community at large to join hands in executing this as these comrades and other gone comrades won’t be forgotten in the history of FASA.
“Our deepest condolences to the family of the deceased as we pray they never witness a thing of such again and also FASAOAU community at large.”
