Olayinka Ishola, younger sister of a Ladoke Akintola University of Technology graduate, Oluwatomisin, tells GRACE EDEMA how her brother died barely 24 hours after his convocation
Could you introduce yourself and tell us your relationship with the deceased whose photo appeared on your social media?
My name is Isola Olayinka from Ikare, Ondo State. The person involved was my brother. I am 25 years old, and he was 28.
When was his convocation?
Oluwatomisin’s convocation was on April 22, 2026, and he died the following day.
What is the name of the school, and what course did he study?
He graduated from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, where he studied Science Laboratory Technology.Can you describe how the convocation day went?
Everything went well. He was not sick; he was only a bit tired from the stress of the day. He was on the field waiting for us, and we arrived a little late because we were bringing food to celebrate with him and his friends.
We celebrated together: my mother, younger brother, younger sister, and I. Our father stayed back at home. My brother did not complain of any health issues.
What happened after the celebration?
After the convocation, we all went home. We ate, including the cake we brought for him. There were no issues. I even prepared Semovita for him that night. We spent time together watching movies, chatting, and relaxing before eventually going to bed.
What happened afterwards?
The next morning, he woke up and said he wanted to go and play football. It was around the period of their football matches in school. Although he had not been able to play earlier because of the convocation, he was eager to go.Before leaving, he told me to cook beans for him and said he would be back soon. I agreed. So, I prepared beans for him and my mother, while my sister and I made rice for ourselves.
We were waiting for him to return when my younger brother suddenly called and told us to come over to his place urgently. At that point, we did not understand what was happening, but he insisted that we come immediately.
I asked my mother to take a bath while I continued cooking rice. Before long, two of his friends came around.
Even before then, people had been coming to his room asking, “Where is he?” We kept telling them that he had gone out to play football.
He had even left his phone behind in the room. Then the phone started ringing repeatedly. At first, I did not want to answer the calls, but my mother asked me to pick up and tell the callers that he was not around.
What were you told when you eventually answered the call?
When I finally answered, the caller also asked, “Where is he?” I told them he had gone to play football, and they said I should ask him to call back whenever he returned.Shortly afterwards, two of his close friends came in and also asked about him. At that point, we still did not suspect anything was wrong.
Then a girl we knew came in. She looked visibly disturbed and sat down quietly. When we asked what was wrong, she said she had seen something on their group chat, a picture of him with people writing “RIP” beneath it.
At first, I did not believe it. I thought it might be someone else who looked like him. The picture being circulated was even from his convocation photoshoot, taken just the day before.
Around the same time, my younger brother, who is also a student of LAUTECH, kept calling and urging us to come over to his place because he needed to show us something urgently.
But I told him we were waiting for my elder brother to return so we could all go out together.
When the lady mentioned seeing “RIP” on his photo in a WhatsApp group, what did you initially suspect?
After we heard the disturbing news, everything changed. No one could eat anymore. Even the food I was cooking lost its meaning. My mother could not eat either. We all became anxious and decided to go to my younger brother’s place.What happened when you got there?
When we arrived, his girlfriend opened the door. We asked for my younger brother, but she said he had stepped out to get something for us. That did not sit right with me. I knew he would not leave without informing us, especially at a time like that.
She kept trying to calm us down and asked us to relax, but we were already worried. Shortly afterwards, one of my brother’s close friends, who was familiar with the place, arrived as well.
Different people started posting his picture online. It happened very fast.
Why were they posting so quickly?
He had only left the room about 20 to 30 minutes earlier, saying he was going to play football, and then people were already posting that he was dead.
We only heard about his death about one or two hours after it happened. At first, I refused to believe it. I kept saying, “No, that’s not my brother.” I cried and said I was still preparing food for him, expecting him to return.
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