Plateau State Polytechnic Graduate Dies In Car Crash While Returning From Graduation Party

The natural desire to celebrate the successful completion of his studies and graduation from Plateau State Polytechnic ended tragically for Mathew Oko, and threw his family into sorrow and grief.

Oko died in a ghastly car crash as he was returning from nightclub, where he had gone to celebrate with some friends after taking the last examination.

Aged 33, Mathew was a staff of First Bank at Barkin-Ladi, Plateau State. The auto crash occurred about 3am on the ill-fated day when he went to drop off the friends he gave a ride in his car after the graduation party.

The merrymaking was said to have commenced at the polytechnic campus, where loud music began to play after the course mates finished their last paper, while other students were yet to complete their examination for the day. Prior to the completion of the day, they had all contributed money for the binge they planned to have at 18 Streets, close to the Jos campus of the polytechnic, by 6pm.

A day earlier, Mathew had invited his Abuja-based younger brother, David Oko, to join him for the graduation party in Jos, but he arrived late at the venue, where he was told the celebrants had dispersed. Since he was not familiar with the city, David went to his brother’s residence where he was to be picked up for Verline, a night club, where Mathew shifted the celebration to host his friends, close to the new Government House.

After a long wait at home, David slept and missed the party, but that perhaps, was his saving grace. He got a call on his mobile phone in the wee hours of the next day that something terrible had happened to his brother. When he eventually arrived at the Air Force Military Hospital, Jos, where Mathew was rushed to, he lay dead at the morgue.

After dropping off a friend, Sunday, at the abattoir area of Jos, Mathew was heading to Bukuru in company with an unnamed female in year one of the Higher National Diploma programme, when the car in which he was riding collided with a vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Though she sustained injuries on her face, and his companion survived the crash, Mathew couldn’t make it. He was said to have died of internal bleeding.

His dream of career progression, which would have been helped by the Higher National Diploma from the Plateau State Polytechnic, came to tragic end.

Mathew, who hailed from Yale-Ebo, Cross River State, gained employment with First Bank Plc in 2010 with a diploma certificate while he was in Taraba State. He secured a transfer to Jos, Plateau State, in 2015, after gaining admission into Plateau State Polytechnic for the HND programme in Public Administration.

It was a challenging venture as he combined his job and academic activities, shuttling a distance of 250 kilometres almost daily between his place of work and the Jos campus of the polytechnic for lectures. But he was determined and completed the programme with the hope of being elevated soon, having suffered stagnation due to his low academic qualification.

Mathew was also planning to commence marriage rites with his fiancée this December. The lovebirds who were also schoolmates, were just waiting for their graduation. They both took their final examination same day, but death has put them asunder.