Final year student of UNIPORT allegedly commits suicide with sniper

By: Okafor Ofiebor

Friends and family of the late Prince Digbani, a final year 500 level student of Electrical and Electronics Department of the University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT are still in shock while wondering what could have led him to commit suicide by gulping pesticide suspected to be sniper on Monday afternoon.

The late final year student who had won two bronze medals for creativity and innovation in Project design was described by his friends as very brilliant.

But they noticed that before his death, he was withdrawn and refused to confide in his friends about his problems.

However, some of the friends of the deceased said he has been complaining about lack of fulfillment and had always nursed the desire to end his life.

Some of his friends said he had earlier told them of his intention to commit suicide, adding that they strongly advised him against such thoughts and desires, thinking he was joking.

According to some his friends, Digbani had left them at school to his off-campus apartment and by 3:51 pm on Monday and later, started updating his WhatsApp status as follows:

“Hours left to be here

“Let’s start the count down together

“Come and pick them up in morning together with my body

“l will couple the remaining projects dz night”

The friends said they called him severally, but he refused to answer as his updates became more worrisome.

His co-tenants also said they later heard scream and when they broke the door and rushed to his room, they found him convulsing on the floor.

The neighbours said they gave him palm oil to drink after they found out he had taken a poisonous liquid pointing to what he had consumed.

They said he was subsequently rushed to the Lulu-Briggs medical Centre where he was pronounced dead few minutes after.

Rivers State Police Command and the authorities of UNIPORT have not reacted to development at the time of filing this report.

The deceased friends who were also his neighbors in his off campus apartment in Aluu village ,near UNIPORT said his demeanour changed on Monday and friends tried in vain to make him speak out about his problems, but he kept telling them that, “you won’t understand”.

Igbani’s elder brother, Godsgift, said the family is in rude shock and cannot fathom the immediate or remote of reasons responsible for suicide.

“Prince is very intelligent, has won laurels for creativity in Electrical and Electronics Department in UNIPORT and almost becoming an Assistant Lecturer at the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt. We are shocked and frustrated, we are disappointed. The family is looking up to the Police. There must be motive that propelled him to do this.

“We want to know what really happened that led to this tragedy that has befallen the family. We rely on the outcome of Police investigations.”

However, recounting his last moments with the deceased, a female student who is also his neighbour said, “l suspected that something was wrong after I prepared soup for him and he refused to eat and refused to talk me. But l suspected something was wrong”.

Another of his neighbour who is also a student said when he noticed that Prince Digbani was behaving funny, he mounted pressures on him to speak out, but he refused. He only assured that the he would ensure that he delivered the projects he was working on.

It was gathered that the remains of the suicide victims will be interred in his village in Bille, Degema Local Government area of Rivers State.

(Credit: The News)