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People experience suicidal thoughts due to various reasons such as frustration, depression, failed relationship, mental health challenge, academic failure, among others. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 1 million people die each year from suicide. It is difficult to anticipate suicide in most instances and this makes it a terribly dangerous menace in any society. What drives so many individuals to take their own lives remains a serious puzzle though depression is at the center of the probable cause, according to scholars and counselors. The fact is that a suicidal person is in so much pain that he or she can see no other option. Suicide is a desperate attempt to escape suffering that has become unbearable. A suicidal person is often blinded by feelings of self-loathing, helplessness, hopelessness, and isolation. The person hardly sees any way of finding relief except through death.
Nigeria witnessed an unprecedented spate of suicides in 2019, especially with media coverage of such incidents. Some schools of thought have argued that suicide incidents had existed in Nigeria possibly on a large scale but most of such incidents were never reported in the media. Well, 2019 saw a number of incidents reported in social and mainstream media. But 2020 witnessed a slight drop in suicide incidents in Nigeria as reported in the media. Also, the leading method of suicide shifted from use of sniper insecticide which came tops in 2019, to hanging which topped in 2020. We continue our record on suicide incidents in 2021.
Here’s a list of suicide incidents that occurred in February 2021, as reported in the media.
FEBRUARY
CASE ONE
Story Title: Riot policeman shoots self to death in Imo
Victim’s Name: Umoh
Marital Status: Not given
Date: February 10
Gender: Male
Age: Adult
Method: Shooting
Reason: Frustration
Type: Suicide
Occupation: Policeman
State Where incident Happened: Imo
Victim’s State of Origin: Not given
Story Summary:
Tragedy occurred at Owerri Area Command headquarters located in the heart of Owerri, the Imo State capital on Wednesday as a police inspector simply identified as Umoh shot himself to death.
A policeman at the Area command headquarters told our correspondent in confidence that the cop locked himself up in one of the rooms in the quarters before shooting and killing himself.
The development, our correspondent learnt, caused panic in the area.
According to the source, the inspector was a visiting cop who was at the area command on a special duty.
The source said though the mobile officer complained of being sick, nobody envisaged he was going to take his own life.
Source: The Punch
CASE TWO
Story Title: Final year student commits suicide over ‘cheating girlfriend’
Victim’s Name: Abdullahi Bello
Marital Status: Single
Date: February 15
Gender: Male
Age: Adult
Method: Sniper
Reason: Failed Relationship
Type: Suicide
Occupation: Student
State Where incident Happened: Jigawa
Victim’s State of Origin: Not given
Story Summary:
A final year student of the Federal University, Dutse (FUD), Jigawa State has committed suicide after accusing his girlfriend of cheating on him on Valentine’s Day.
The university’s spokesperson, Abdullahi Bello, told PREMIUM TIMES the incident occurred on Monday. He added that the vice chancellor, Abdulkareem Sabo, has ordered an investigation.
He said the deceased, Abdullahi Bashir, a 400-level student of Mathematics, died after ingesting an insecticide, Sniper, at his off campus apartment at Yalwawa quarters in Dutse.
Mr Bashir was pronounced dead at Rasheed Shekoni Specialist Hospital in Dutse, the official added.
Source: Premium Times
CASE THREE
Story Title: Final First-year FUTO student commits suicide
Victim’s Name: Daniel Uchenna Nwafor
Marital Status: Single
Date: February 23
Gender: Male
Age: Adult
Method: Hanging
Reason: Not given
Type: Suicide
Occupation: Student
State Where incident Happened: Imo
Victim’s State of Origin: Not given
Story Summary:
A first-year student of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Imo State has apparently killed himself.
The body of Daniel Uchenna Nwafor of the Department of Chemistry was found on Tuesday dangling on a rope in his lodge at Umuchima in the Ihiagwa area of Owerri, the state capital.
Sources said that the 18-year-old recently returned to the lodge with his mother, who stayed with him for some days before leaving.
Two days after her departure, Nwafor killed himself, it was said.
Nwafor was said to be unwell and in pain.
Source: The Nationonline
CASE FOUR
Story Title: Delta lovers found dead in residence, neighbours suspect suicide
Victim’s Name: Emmanuel Oshiotu
Marital Status: Single
Date: February 25
Gender: Male
Age: Adult
Method: Insecticide (sniper)
Reason: Not given
Type: Murder-Suicide
Occupation: Not given
State Where incident Happened: Delta
Victim’s State of Origin: Not given
Story Summary:
A 33-year-old man, Emmanuel Oshiotu, and his 25-year-old lover, Amaka Okafor, were on Thursday found dead in their one-room apartment in Uvwie community in the Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
The corpses of the lovers were sighted by neighbours in their apartment located at Ojigbo Crescent, Off Sapele-Effurun Road, Uvwie.
A neighbour of the deceased, who declined to be named, said, “Around 5am, we heard Emmanuel shouting for help and on breaking the door, found him vomiting white foam while his lover’s lifeless body lay a few distance from him.”
The cause of their death could not be ascertained by anyone as of the time of filing this report but witnesses said a can of insecticide and a knife were found besides their bodies.
The discovery made neighbours and the police suspect suicide.
Source: Punch
