‘There was no scar on his body’

FAMILY members and friends of the late Akinsiku Michael Timileyin, a 400 level student of Adeyemi College of Education (ACE), Ondo, who died mysteriously at Erin Ijesha Waterfall last Saturday, have debunked the rumour that the deceased was murdered.

Timileyin, a native of Ondo and final year student in the Department of English Studies, went with his friends, course mates and other students on an excursion organised by the Students Union Government (SUG) to the tourist site in Osun State, that fateful day.

It was gathered that the college union embarked on the trip to celebrate Students’ Week, which would be crowned with SUG election to elect new executive members into various offices of the union.

At the close of the day, after they’ve had enough fun, according to his friend and course-mate, Alake Temitope, who is also a 400 Level student, Timileyin slumped on a plain ground and died.

There have been speculations that he was killed with several gunshots in his body, while a source who spoke with The Guardian, said the SUG executives, panicky, got back to campus and reported that he fell from the mountain top.

Alake, who was an eye-witness, gave a firsthand information that Timileyin was quiet all through the fun-filled experiences, instead of enjoying the momentous frenzy with them, he was only snapping them with his camera phone.

He dispelled the report credited to the SUG as untrue and affirmed that the spot where he slumped was very plain, but he gave up the ghost despite all efforts to revive him and before he could be rushed to a nearby hospital in Ilesha town.

The deceased’s course-mate also stated that there was no gunshot wound or any slight scar on the corpse as some people reportedly alleged.

The Guardian confirmed the assertions of Alake from his family and close relatives in Sora Quarters, of the ancient Ondo Kingdom, who affirmed Alake’s side of the story before the burial yesterday.

One of his brothers, who refused to mention his name and declined saying much, said he was among those who went to collect his corpse in Ilesha and there was no scar on him.

The Akinsikus, out of pains and deep mourning, expressed the irreplaceable loss that befell the family, urging the school management to discourage unguided and unmonitored excursions in the college so as to forestall such sad reoccurrence.

Meanwhile, attempts to reach the Provost of the College, Prof. Yemi Ogen and other principal officers proved abortive as it was found out that yesterday was declared lecture-free day for the burial of the deceased.

A source in Sora, who is also a relative of the deceased, told The Guardian that the school authority asserted that the excursion was not authorised by the school management.