A fresh graduate of the Department of Quantity Surveying at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Ifunanya Miracle, aka Bliss, has died during a prank gone wrong.
The 22-year-old was attempting to escape a yet-to-be-identified prankster’s robbery on the premises of the school in the Awka area of Anambra State when she fell and hit her head on the ground, resulting in her death.
Miracle friend Peace, a student of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, was also involved in the incident, sustained injuries and is currently receiving treatment at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital.
According to eyewitnesses, the duo boarded a tricycle on Sunday, June 9, when the prankster, a final-year student, ordered the victims to surrender their valuables, claiming it was a robbery.
The eyewitness stated that in a desperate attempt to escape the robbery, the two students jumped out of the moving tricycle, which led to the deaths of Miracle after she hit her head on the ground and Peace, who sustained injuries.“Miracle just graduated from the university and does a Point-of-Sale operation in the school. The incident happened around 7 pm on June 9, 2024. She does her PoS business at the front of my residence,” the PUNCH reported, quoting an anonymous eyewitness.
“She usually packs her business stuff under the staircase in our compound and the stuff is still there. She packed it and put it back there in the evening. But all of a sudden, we just heard that she was dead.
“We were like how; she still dropped her stuff under the staircase of our compound on Monday. From what we gathered, she was on a moving tricycle with her friend when a fellow passenger ordered them to give him their phones.
“While trying to escape, Miracle jumped out of the tricycle and hit her head on the road and by the time she was rushed to the hospital, she had died. Her friend, who also jumped out of the tricycle sustained injuries and she is still in hospital.”
Another student also disclosed that the male prankster later claimed that he was pranking them.However, the spokesperson for the school, Emmanuel Ojukwu, confirmed the case and noted that the prankster, a final-year student of the school, would face disciplinary measures after Miracle had been buried.
Ojukwu said, “The university is fully aware of the incident. It was not a robbery but a very expensive prank. The students were told to bring their phones but they didn’t know it was a prank. So, they jumped, one died and one survived.
“The families of the victims and that of the final-year student who pranked the victims have held a meeting with us and it was established that it was a prank.
“The families have reached some agreement and we want the process of the burial to take place before the student that pranked them will face disciplinary measures.
“It was an unfortunate incident; the school regrets it, the student who pranked them regrets it and the family of the concerned student will take responsibility for the funeral of the dead victim and the hospital bill of the other student. We use this opportunity to warn students to avoid expensive pranks that lead to death, the person will face the music.”
