A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member serving in Bauchi, Joseph Adebayo, who went on a picnic to celebrate the end of his service year on Thursday drowned in Gubi River in the outskirts of Bauchi metropolis.
Bauchi State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Kamal Datti, who confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, said the deceased, along with two of his colleagues, had boarded a faulty canoe, which capsized with them.
The spokesman said two of the corps members were rescued by villagers while Adebayo got drowned, adding that his floating corpse was recovered on Friday.
“On Thursday at about 8.30 pm the command received a report from one Mahadi Sada, a Zonal Inspector of NYSC, that on the same day at about 5pm, some corps members attached to Bauchi State Board of Internal Revenue went on a picnic at Gubi dam to celebrate the end of their service year.
“Three of the corps members boarded a canoe but unfortunately, the canoe was faulty, and so water drifted into it, resulting in the canoe capsizing.
“However, two of the corps members were rescued by villagers fishing in the Dam while one Joseph Adebayo, 26, who hails from Ogun state, got drowned and eventually died,” he said
Datti said the corpse of the deceased was recovered on Friday at about 8am and deposited at the mortuary of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, for medical examination, adding that investigation on the matter had commenced.
