19-year-old Babcock student commits suicide after sending suggestive New Year message to friend
A 19-year-old Babcock University undergraduate, Verishima Unokyur has committed suicide after sending his friend a New Year text message that read, “See you in heaven.”
Verishima reportedly committed the act in the room he shared with his younger brother at their parent’s residence in Mafoluku, in the Oshodi area of Lagos State.
His brother, Asor was asleep on the fateful night and their mum had been away.
Asor said Verishima, a 200-level Social Work student of Babcock, didn’t show any signs before they slept on Tuesday, except that he was unnecessarily quiet.
“I was sleeping when my phone rang and when I checked, I saw that it was my mum calling. She said I should come and open the door for her. As I was coming down, I saw my brother dangling like a pendulum from where he hanged himself. That was around 7am,” Asor told Punch.
“He didn’t complain about anything. But I remember that before I went to sleep, he was quiet. I asked what was wrong with him, but he said nothing. My mum had just the two of us; he was my elder brother.”
The Benue State indigene had reportedly told his mum, several times, that he would die soon. He had been taken to different prayer houses as a result, a family source said.
“The two children lost their father about 15 years ago. It was their mother that had been responsible for their upkeep and she made them comfortable. She is a top employee of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria,” the source is quoted as saying.
“He had been telling the mother that he had the feeling that he would die soon.
“The mother attends one of the Pentecostal churches and so when the boy said he would die, she took him to the church and they prayed for him.
“A night to the day of this incident, the boy picked his phone and sent a text message to his best friend, wishing him a happy new year. At the end of that message, he wrote, ‘see you in heaven’. It was the following morning that his remains were found dangling from his tie.”
Verishima was described by his former teacher as a quiet boy who mostly kept to himself, while Babcock Public Relations Officer, Joshua Suleiman said he was an obedient student.
Verishima’s remains had been deposited at the mortuary as sympathisers throng the family house on Sunkanmi Awoyingbo Street, Mafoluku, to condole with the mother, reports say.
