Simon Adokwu, a 100-level student in the Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Lagos, collapsed and passed away while playing football on the school’s grounds in Akoka, Lagos State, on Sunday.
After church service, Adokwu proceeded to a football field close to the university’s human resource development center to play.
The student was reportedly playing football with his friends when he suddenly fell over.
Adokwu’s colleagues hurried him to Medical Center, the University’s hospital at Main Campus, to save him, but the attending physician pronounced him dead after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him.
When contacted by Punch correspondent, UNILAG’s Public Relations Officer, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, revealed the 22-year-old had informed his companions he was sick before joining the football play on the field.
“He said he was still going to go ahead and play football. In the course of playing, his teammates turned around and noticed that he had slumped.
“They moved closer and tried to raise him but at that point, he was completely motionless. His friends took him to the medical center, and they immediately tried to resuscitate him but unfortunately, he was dead.
“The DSA called his parents and when they came over, they said they would like to take his body but that is not our tradition. We still need to do an autopsy and post-mortem evaluation. At that point, we had to move his body to the LUTH, Idi-Araba.”
