Jacob Elijah Kelechi was a young Nigerian boy whose remarkable WAEC result went viral recently. The sad circumstances surrounding his death have now been made public.
Shortly after finishing his 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), Elijah passed away.
On August 19, Elijah’s older brother, Jacob Joseph John, posted the tragic news and his outstanding WASSCE results on Facebook. Eyes Of Lagos reports,
John shared his sorrow in a heartfelt post. He wrote:
“Remain relaxed, my younger sibling.
“We’ve released your WAEC result.
“You succeeded.”
Elijah, who was born in 2006, tragically perished on July 12 in the Imo River in Abia State. John claims that Elijah and the other four people were returning from the river when the catastrophe happened.
As they navigated the waters, they encountered military personnel involved in anti-bunkering operations, which caused panic among the group.
While some of the boys managed to swim to safety, Elijah, who couldn’t swim, tragically drowned.
Recalling the events of that fateful day, John said:
“It happened that they entered a boat. You understand? They were like five on the boat. As they were coming back from the river, because that area, they do bunkering, so, they saw military people. “
When they saw the military people, they were scared. Those of them that knew how to swim were diving inside (the water). “
Himself (Elijah), he didn’t know how to swim, with fear, just dived into the river, and that was all.”
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