UNILORIN student commits suicide after ‘online lover’ she lent N500k blocks her

Sanni Hameedat, a 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), has reportedly committed suicide after lending N500,000 to a boy she met on the social media platform, Snapchat.

Rubiks, the private hostel management she resided in before her demise, in a statement on Wednesday, said Hameedat was undergoing her SIWES programme before the incident happened.

According to Punch, the management noted that the cause of her death was not unrelated to the pressure from the app agents, who were demanding fast repayment, coupled with her brother’s inability to assist her financially, which led to depression.

“The cause of suicide was traced to financial misappropriation. She was entrusted with a significant sum of money by her mother. She crossed paths with a guy on Snapchat and developed a friendship.

“When the boy claimed that his mother was battling breast cancer and urgently needed N500,000, the compassionate and emotional lady decided to help him by lending him half of the N1 million she held for her mother. And the boy promised to repay the borrowed money.

“However, when her mother needed the money back, the boy abruptly cut off all contact, blocking her. This left her deeply troubled and in order for her to make up the missing N500,000, she resorted to borrowing money from various apps.”

Hameedat, therefore, managed to gather N450,000 from the loan apps, adding her savings of N50,000 to make up the borrowed N500,000.

The management explained that she was reported to have ingested a bottle of pesticide popularly known as Sniper the previous night, and her roommate (name withheld), who had retired to bed early, woke up in the middle of the night to discover her in distress while she was foaming from her mouth and also vomiting.

“Alarmed, the roommate sought help, and she was rushed to UITH before being declared dead,” the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, both the Dean, Student Affairs Unit, Prof M.T. Yakubu, and the Head, Corporate Affairs, Kunle Akogun of the institution, could not comment on the issue in terse messages sent to them by Punch as they both claimed to be partaking in the 37th and 38th combined convocation ceremony which kickstarted on Monday, October 16, 2023.