Femi Opesusi, father of 19-year-old Timilehin Opesusi, has said he used the money he saved for her university education to bury her after she died by suicide following a low score in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Timilehin, who had scored 190 in last year’s UTME, was said to have ingested rat poison on May 12, after seeing a 146 score this year. Her death has sparked national outrage, with several other candidates and parents also complaining of unusually low scores and technical issues during the 2025 UTME.
In an interview with Channels Television, the grieving father shared how her death has left the family in pain.
“I reassured her and told her to take it easy,” he said. “I said, ‘I’m working because of you people; I have the money. Your school fees are there, intact!’ Now, I’ve used the school fees to bury her.”
According to him, Timilehin had panicked after receiving the UTME result through her sister.
“She said, ‘Daddy, this is not my result! This is not my result! Go and do something!’” he told journalist.
He said he tried to calm her and checked Lagos State University of Science and Technology online, telling her not to worry as he would pay the necessary fees. But barely 30 minutes later, he was told she had taken poison and was in the hospital.
“When I finally saw her on a video call, she was on a hospital bed, struggling with death. I knew then that she would not survive,” he said.
“She regretted it. She was fighting for her life. It was very painful. I watched her on the bed in pain, and I knew my daughter was gone.”
Opesusi explained that her older sister, Opeyemi, was also unaware of her plan. According to him, Timilehin had asked for palm oil and pretended she had a stomach upset. It wasn’t until she collapsed that her sister realised she had taken the poison known as *Push Out*.
The father said doctors at the hospital tried to save her but it was too late. “They did their best. There were many doctors, but the poison was too much. She took a whole sachet,” he said.
He also revealed that Timilehin was offered admission last year at the Federal University, Offa, but he advised her not to go because it was far from home and transportation costs were high. “I regret not letting her go to Offa,” he said.
The grieving father said she had planned to study Biochemistry and had been working as a hairdresser while waiting for admission. “She was brilliant, hardworking and gentle,” he said, adding that many lecturers at LASUSTECH came to her to style their hair.
Asked about claims that she was offered admission shortly after her death, he said, “Who offered her admission? I can’t even open her result on her phone. Nobody gave her admission. It’s just rumours.”
He also stated that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had not contacted him since her death.
“They have never called me. No government official has reached out,” he said, adding that he doesn’t wish to meet them.
“What I want from JAMB is the actual result of my daughter, not the one they tampered with after she died,” he said. “That cannot bring my daughter back, but it was the last thing she asked of me—‘Daddy, go and fight for my result.’”
He held JAMB responsible for her death. “My daughter suffered while preparing for this exam. She was always reading. She was the one that carried my name up, right from her childhood.”
