ICYMI: Story Of 19-year-old UTME Candidate Who Committed Suicide Over Poor Result

A 19-year-old girl, Opesusi Faith Timilehin, tragically took her own life on Monday after reportedly scoring 190 in the recently released Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

Timilehin, who hailed from Abeokuta, Ogun State, was living with her elder sister in Odogunyan, Ikorodu, Lagos State, at the time of the incident.

The Guardian reported that Timilehin ingested ‘Push Out,’ a rodenticide, shortly before visiting her sister’s office, where she asked for palm oil to relieve the pain she was experiencing.

Her unusual behaviour initially raised no alarm until she later collapsed, prompting her sister to seek help.

On the way to Kolak Hospital in Odogunyan, she reportedly confessed to having taken poison at home.

Medical personnel at the hospital confirmed her death shortly after arrival.

About 30 minutes after her death was confirmed, Timilehin received a provisional admission offer via email from JAMB to study Microbiology, the course she had applied for.

A close family source revealed that Timilehin had previously sat for the UTME in 2024 and expressed disappointment that her latest score was lower than her previous result.

“She said her last year’s score was better than this one. She had hoped for a better result and was devastated,” the source said.

Neighbours and residents described the deceased as “gentle and humble,” and expressed outrage at the circumstances surrounding her death, directing anger at what they saw as a flawed admissions process that failed to provide timely feedback to candidates.

Timilehin’s parents, upon receiving the heartbreaking news, travelled from Abeokuta to Ikorodu to retrieve her remains for burial.