Fears, concerns as many Nigerians take to suicide via lagoon – Report

There is concern among Nigerians that the Lagos Lagoon has turned an attractive suicide spot for many who claimed they are tired of living and decided to end it all.

Nigerians have lost count of individuals who have left their houses to end their lives in the Lagos Lagoon. While some unlucky ones jumped into the river and died, others, because of the timely intervention of responders, were rescued. Also, there are some who were dissuaded from killing themselves while still on the bridge.

Track news, however, reports that there could be individuals who might have plunged into the Lagoon at a time nobody would see them.

The Lagos Lagoon, which is more than 50km long and 13km wide, is a beauty to behold. But, people are still finding answers to why ‘prospective suiciders’ have found it to be the most convenient place to put a stop to living.

“How could we describe the fact that somebody left Ota in Ogun State to go and commit suicide in the Lagos Lagoon? Does that mean there are no waters in the entire Ogun State,” Adebisi Ojo, a civil servant sought to know.

In October 2017, a 40-year-old man, who was identified as Adekunle Oluseyi from Ondo State, had jumped into the lagoon from the Lekki–Ikoyi Link Bridge

A year after it was reported that a staff member of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) in Ikoyi had parked his car and jumped into the lagoon from the 3rd Mainland Bridge.

It was said that the deceased parked the vehicle he was driving on the bridge and told other occupants that he wanted to urinate.

In February 2020, Daibo Toju Davies, 22, had jumped into the same lagoon on the 3rd Mainland bridge. Davies, who was until his death a resident of 17, Sosanya Street, Gbagada Soluyi, Lagos, was said to have hired an Uber driver from a hospital in Gbagada. On the bridge, he had stopped the driver on the pretence that he was suffering from a stomach upset, only for him to jump into the lagoon.

On December 16, 2021, a National Diploma certificate holder, Lekan Odunare, plunged into the lagoon. A video of Odunare sitting on the rails of the bridge before plunging into the lagoon went viral last year. He dived into the waters even as the man filming the scene was heard asking him questions.

In the same vein, one 67-year-old Oluwatoye Bamgboye, a resident of Oju-Ore in Ogun State, chose his birthday, April 5, 2022, as the day to call it quits in life. However, he was about to follow the steps of other suiciders when officials of the Rapid Response Squad on patrol of the 3rd Mainland Bridge sighted him.

Bamgboye was said to have complained of burden and frustration, saying after selling his assets to settle a loan, he lost his job.

“Today being my birthday, I have decided to end it all. The burden and the frustration are too much for me to bear. My wife has abandoned me in the process,” the man was quoted as saying.