Man attempts suicide over abject poverty

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man has attempted to take his own life at the FESTAC area of Lagos over what he described as his inability to endure abject poverty.

The man, who refused to disclose his identity, claimed that he walked all the way from Mushin to FESTAC First Gate bus stop, where he decided to end his life by jumping from the pedestrian bridge.

He told concerned residents of the area, who forcibly carried him away from the middle of the Lagos – Badagry expressway to safety, “I’m suffering. I’ve been begging for a very long time. There’s no job. Many people now know me for begging. I cannot go to Mushin to beg. Nobody will answer me. I’ve not eaten since yesterday. When I beg, people would laugh at me saying I’m lazy, I don’t want to work. But I want to work, but there’s no work. I just decided to end my Life on this expressway. I don’t want to do it at Mushin where I am living.”

An eyewitness, Jacob Okechukwu, said, “I was unwinding with my friends at this bus stop. As we were drinking beer, we heard a loud sound. One motorcycle rider screamed and we all got up to know what was happening. My friend, Kennedy said there was a human being on the expressway. We all abandoned our drinks and assisted in carrying the man to a safer place.

“He sustained some injuries quite alright. The motorcycle rider said he fell from the pedestrian bridge. But I insisted that nobody could fall from the pedestrian bridge just like that. We now asked the man what happened and he confessed that he wanted to commit suicide. He complained that he could not feed himself and so could not be responsible in the eyes of his family and community. He cried that of what use was he when he could not even feed himself?

“Many of us had to encourage him not to lose hope in life, because many rich men today suffered more than what he was going through. Many of us began to contribute money for him. I’m a businessman, I donated N1,000. My friend gave him N2,000. The man must have made up to N10, 000.”

Another eyewitness, Mohammed Kaduna, said, “The man is a Yoruba man. He must be a lazy man. How can he kill himself because he is hungry and has no money to buy food? Why can’t he look for something to do? You can see my Hausa brothers, some pick plastic and iron on the road. They are hardworking. It is only a lazy man that hunger can kill.”

A retired Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Lauretta Atinuke Koyi, expressed surprise that somebody could walk all the way from Mushin to FESTAC just because he wanted to commit suicide.

She said, “If he wanted to die through suicide, why should he walk from Mushin to FESTAC First Gate and climb the pedestrian bridge before attempting suicide? What I can tell you is that such a behaviour is not ordinary. He must have been influenced by hard drug. For somebody to walk from Mushin to FESTAC because he wanted to commit suicide, is funny. He didn’t go to the lagoon. He saw vehicles and he did not jump in their front; only for him to jump from the pedestrian bridge to the middle of the service lane. God wanted to protect him. “The man was influenced by hard drug. I don’t know what is wrong with the youths of these days. How can they be taking hard drugs like codeine, tramadol, methanol and even sniff soak-away? What are thy gaining from doing that?”