Two Women Attempt Suicide In Lagos Lagoon Over N150k , N18million Debts [READ HERE]

Momoh, the textile seller

The Lagos State Police Command on Friday rescued a woman, Taiwo Momoh, as she attempted to jump into the lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge, while fishermen rescued another, Mrs. Abigail Ogunyinka, the Ebute-Ero end of the Lagos lagoon.

Ogunyinka, a food vendor, was said to have jumped already but was rescued by nearby fishermen.

Both women said they are heavily indebted. Ogunyinka said she owed a microfinance bank N150,000.

Amala Seller

This is coming less than one week after a medical doctor, Allwell Orji, jumped from the same bridge into the lagoon in an apparent suicide.

The same day Orji took his own life in a case that has attracted attention nationwide, another woman was rescued in Mazamaza area of Lagos after she jumped inside the lagoon.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, told newsmen at the headquarters of the Rapid Response Squad in Lagos on Friday that Momoh was in a taxi heading towards Oworonshoki on the Third Mainland Bridge when she told the taxi driver to stop on the bridge.

Owoseni said the woman was about to jump into the water when a police patrol team on a routine patrol on the Third Mainland Bridge sighted her and rushed to save her.

She was caught before she could jump.

“She attempted suicide by trying to jump into the Lagoon around Oworonshoki end of the Mainland on the Third Mainland Bridge. Fortunately for her, she was rescued,” Owoseni said.

The CP explained that after interacting with the woman, she revealed that she had been depressed as a result of a huge debt. “Right now, the woman is still in trauma. She is still insisting that she wants to end her life,” the police boss said.

Momoh, who lives in Lekki in Lagos was rescued by a team of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) after she alighted from a taxi, off her shoes and was about jumping into the lagoon on Third Mainland Bridge before the RRS men rushed to save her.

PorscheClassy gathered that the woman’s problem started sometimes in 2015, when a Bureau De Change dealer carted away her N18.7 million she wanted to change to pay her foreign creditors.

The creditors had given her Swiss textiles worth several millions of naira because she has maintained good relationship with the creditors for more than 15 years.

“My condition became compounded when robbers invaded my shop on Lagos Island, carting away most of the textiles that was left with me, ” Momoh narrated while meeting the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Fatai Owoseni after she was rescued.

She emphasized that most of the time, she has been having sleepless nights and seeing the ghosts of the creditors whenever she was alone.

It was gathered that Momoh is a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

According to her, on several occasions she had attempted to see her Parish Pastor to explain her predicaments so that the church would help her raise money to meet her Swiss creditors.

“Unfortunate for me, I was only allowed to see the second in command, which has yielded no fruits.

“Added to all these, my first son, whom I felt would stand by me and console me abandoned me. I now thought that by the time I’m gone, maybe he would come around and inherit what is left.

“I don’t want to use my debt and death to disturb anybody. I was in the shop this morning (Friday). I have looked everywhere and estimated what is there. I thought with my house, a bungalow, those I am leaving behind can still live comfortably. I want to go and meet God. This world is empty.

“I didn’t want to do anything to get rich. Because I want to get rich I should join cult group, no I won’t do this.

“I was once a Muslim, I have because of this problem been jumping from one faith to the other. The problem has been too much for me to bear. I want to go back to God.

“That was why I dressed very simply today. I am ready to meet Him. If He cannot address my problem on earth, let me go back to Him, ” Momoh said.

Owoseni noted that committing suicide was an offence under the law but that the police would try to talk the woman out of committing suicide. He said the woman would be taken through a post-trauma programme to restore her hope in life. Owoseni assured that the police would do a medical evaluation on her to ascertain her current condition, but lamented that the rate at which people commit suicide in the country was worrisome.

“The police have begun patrol of bridges across the state to forestall other cases of suicide,” he said.

Owoseni said the police would no longer allow individuals to walk on bridges in the state and that no vehicle would be allowed to stop on any bridge in the state to prevent suicides.

As Momoh was being led from the RRS headquarters into a waiting police vehicle, she told journalists that she was not a criminal and they should get their cameras out of her presence.