Four UNN students die of ‘hard drug overdose’

Four persons, believed to be graduating students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), have been found dead after a party held at their off-campus lodge in the Hilltop Area of Nsukka.

TREMIUM TIMES gathered that the incident happened on Wednesday.

Sources told this newspaper that the students held the party on Tuesday night after their examination.

There were speculations that the victims were graduating students of the Pharmacy Department of UNN.

But the President of the UNN Chapter of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students, Olisaemeka Onah and its Secretary, Chibuike Obasi, refuted the speculations in a statement forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.

The students’ leaders confirmed the incident but said, contrary to the speculations, the victims were not pharmacy students.

The statement said the student leaders visited a mortuary where the bodies were deposited but could not identify any of them.

“I personally visited Faith Foundation Hospital, where the bodies of four deceased persons – two boys and two girls – were deposited at the mortuary.

“I also personally viewed the deceased, and I can confirm that I did not recognise any of them as a pharmacy student,” the statement reads in part.

They added that further enquiries showed that two of the deceased were familiar UNN social media personalities, known for street vlogging, including Rymez and Dance Content, also known as Golden.

The students’ leaders urged the university community to avoid spreading unverified information, pointing out that further enquiries were ongoing to ascertain the identities of all the victims.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this unfortunate incident,” they said.

A viral video clip which showed the victims in an apartment has been circulating on Facebook.

In the clip, PREMIUM TIMES counted seven of the victims lying unconscious on the floor of the apartment.

A resident of the area who identified himself as Kenechukwu told PREMIUM TIMES on the phone on Thursday morning that the victims were believed to have died after consuming hard drugs and alcohol at the party.

Kenechukwu said that as of Wednesday morning, three of the victims were still alive but unconscious, while four were already dead.

“The claim that they were poisoned is false. They died due to an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

“Some results on the survivors showed they had overdosed on hard drugs and alcohol,” he said.

The spokesperson for UNN, Agha Inya, did not immediately respond to calls and WhatsApp messages seeking his comments on the incident.

Mr Inya later appealed to reporters to give him time to provide details of the incident.

“We will issue an official statement on the matter soon,” he wrote in a short message to reporters on Thursday.