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John Paul Usman, a 24-year-old Nigerian participant at the ongoing United States of American exchange programme, the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship has died.
Usman who was the youngest among the 100 Nigerians participating in the programme across various universities and colleges within the US, was posted to Virginia Tech in Virginia State for a six-week intensive programme on academic excellence and leadership (Civic Leadership Track), but he drowned during an event over the weekend.
A colleague of the late Usman from South Africa, Nzuzi said: “We went on a hiking trip. John Paul kept insisting I go into the water and I didn’t, because it was too cold. He decided to join the fellows who were right under the water and the next thing that happened was that he slipped into the water and started drowning.
Another fellow tried to save him but they both disappeared for a while. We were all freaked out and then the one fellow (trying to rescue the deceased) came back up but JP remained unseen. We started screaming for help, and people jumped in to look for him. They then recovered his body.”
Late Usman was said to have graduated from University of Ilorin, Kwara State just a few days before he embarked on the trip to the United States where 1,000 selected youths from Sub-Saharan African countries are participating in the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders
Usman who was the youngest among the 100 Nigerians participating in the programme across various universities and colleges within the US, was posted to Virginia Tech in Virginia State for a six-week intensive programme on academic excellence and leadership (Civic Leadership Track), but he drowned during an event over the weekend.
A colleague of the late Usman from South Africa, Nzuzi said: “We went on a hiking trip. John Paul kept insisting I go into the water and I didn’t, because it was too cold. He decided to join the fellows who were right under the water and the next thing that happened was that he slipped into the water and started drowning.
Another fellow tried to save him but they both disappeared for a while. We were all freaked out and then the one fellow (trying to rescue the deceased) came back up but JP remained unseen. We started screaming for help, and people jumped in to look for him. They then recovered his body.”
Late Usman was said to have graduated from University of Ilorin, Kwara State just a few days before he embarked on the trip to the United States where 1,000 selected youths from Sub-Saharan African countries are participating in the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders