Victoria Mbangwa
A promising teenager with dreams of becoming a microbiologist, Opesusi Faith Timilehin took her own life in the Odogunyan area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, on Monday.
The 19-year-old, originally from Abeokuta, had been living with her elder sister in Lagos as she pursued her academic goals.
Described by family and neighbors as soft-spoken, intelligent, and deeply ambitious, Faith had high hopes pinned on the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). But when the results were released, she scored 190 — a result she found disheartening, especially after performing better in the 2024 exam.
“She said her last year’s result was better than this year’s,” said a close friend who spoke to News Central.
In a state of emotional distress, Faith reportedly ingested a rodenticide known locally as “Push Out.” She then went to her sister’s office, asking for palm oil a local remedy often used to neutralize poison. Unaware of the gravity of the situation, her sister initially thought little of the request until Faith’s condition rapidly deteriorated.
An eyewitness recounted that Faith confessed on the way to the hospital that she had taken poison earlier that day. Despite desperate efforts to save her life at Kolak Hospital in Odogunyan, she was pronounced dead.
Shockingly, within half an hour of her passing, a Gmail notification arrived on her phone a provisional admission message from JAMB, confirming her acceptance into a university program she had long dreamed of.
“The shocking revelation is that she was given an admission message via her Gmail yesterday, immediately after she was confirmed dead at Kolak Hospital, Odogunyan, Ikorodu, Lagos,” said a relative, still reeling from the loss.
Her grieving parents, who arrived from Abeokuta shortly after the news broke, have since taken her body home for burial.
The tragic story has sparked a wave of reactions on social media, with many Nigerians calling for improved mental health support systems for students facing academic pressure and a reevaluation of how educational success is measured in the country.
