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“It happened around 11am on Tuesday, shortly after we entered the hall for the examination. It wasn’t a crowded period; the corridors and staircases were free. Coker was standing, with another student behind him. He suddenly collapsed, and the student behind him held him and placed him on the floor.”
These were the lamentations of a student, simply named Bukola, when recounting the last moment of Mr. Micheal Coker, a student of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) who reportedly died after he collapsed suddenly during an on-going examination at the Institution’s Victoria Island study centre in Lagos.
Coker was said to have laid unattended for more than 15 minutes, gasping for breath, last Tuesday, December 16.
Bukola alleged that the female invigilator from an adjacent hall entered and ordered students to return to their seats.
“She started chasing everyone away to write their exams, even though the student was on the floor, gasping. Someone told the Invigilator that a student had collapsed, and she replied in Yoruba, ‘E fi sílè, ó máa dìde,’ meaning ‘Leave him; he will get up.’”
Bukola added that students became worried and began asking questions about Coker’s condition, when he was refusing to stand up, and many were afraid to near him.
“We asked if he had epilepsy, and they said no. Another person asked if he was convulsing. Someone even suggested putting a spoon in his mouth.
“All this while, he was still on the floor, jerking and gasping for life, but she kept chasing us away,” she added.
Bukola further claimed that it took several minutes for help to arrive.
“This went on for more than four minutes. It was only when his breathing became unstable that one of the invigilators said they had called a nurse. Even placing him on a chair took another five minutes. By then, he was already gasping badly.
“The nurse eventually came and administered first aid before he was taken downstairs through the elevator. We were told to continue with our exams. It was only after we finished that we were informed that Coker had died.”
Another student and class representative of the deceased, identified only as Prince Preskit said:
“He was about to log into the system for the exam when he collapsed. I think the invigilator only wanted people to give him space.
“It was when they realised that something was seriously wrong that he was taken downstairs and rushed to the hospital before his eventual death.”
He added that tensions rose afterwards.
“Students started shouting that it was the woman who did not allow them to take him to the hospital on time. I wasn’t inside the hall when it happened, but I heard he fainted and there was confusion,” he said.
Preskit further disclosed that Coker was taken to Bonny Camp Hospital.
“He was taken there, but I heard he was rejected and later died on the way to another hospital. It was an accident. These things happen suddenly; it’s not something people are always prepared for,” he said.
Lagos News Student Education University Nigeria NOUN tragedy