By Isaac Job, Uyo
A wave of grief has swept through Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, following the sudden death of John, a final-year Higher National Diploma (HND) student in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies.
The tragedy occurred when John collapsed during a routine activity on campus.
According to sources, John left his off-campus lodge to attend karate training, a regular Saturday morning session he led. Moments after stepping onto the training ground, he fainted. Fellow students rushed him to a private hospital in Ikot Ekpene, which referred him to the General Hospital, Ikot Ekpene.
Nsoefen Mark Akpan, president of the Journalism and Media Studies Students Association (JAMSSA), recounted, “The doctor at General Hospital Ikot Ekpene, after close examination, pronounced the deceased dead on arrival at the hospital.”
Disbelieving the diagnosis, students took John to a church for prayers, hoping for a miracle. “In the church, after he was rejected, another spiritualist offered to resuscitate the victim but couldn’t succeed, claiming that the deceased had been admitted already to the spirit world,” Akpan said.
He added, “At this point, we returned the corpse to the mortuary, but students were still waiting to see if the colleague was dead.”
Dr Inemesit Umoren, Head of the Department, visited the hospital to address the distraught students, after which John’s body was placed in the mortuary and his parents were notified.
Akpan expressed shock, noting, “This is a young man who wrote exams last Thursday without any sign of sickness. The karate training is what he does every Saturday morning. He is the leader in the training. It surprised all of us how he died suddenly.”
The polytechnic community remains in mourning as it grapples with the unexpected loss.