How police averted suicide attempts in Lagos

I’ve Not Been Sleeping Well Since I Was Duped – Rescued Woman

Barely one week after a Lagos-based medical doctor, Allwell Orji, jumped into the Lagos Lagoon on the Third Mainland Bridge and his body recovered on Wednesday, the state Police Command has rescued a woman, Taiwo Titilayo Momoh, who attempted to jump into the same lagoon from the bridge again yesterday.

Another woman was also rescued as she was attempting to commit suicide on Carter Bridge in Lagos by men of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).Abigail Ogunyinka succeeded in jumping into the lagoon, but was rescued by divers, who quickly pulled her out.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, told journalists at the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) headquarters within the State Secretariat, Alausa, yesterday that Momoh was in a taxi heading towards Oworonshoki on Third Mainland Bridge when she told the taxi driver to stop on the bridge.

According to Owoseni, the woman was about to jump into the water when a police patrol team on routine patrol of the Third Mainland Bridge sighted her and rushed to save her before she could jump into the Lagoon.

“She attempted suicide by attempting to jump into the Lagoon around Oworonshoki inward Mainland on Third Mainland Bridge.“Unfortunately for her, she was rescued. The woman was in a taxi and alighted on the bridge and wanted to commit suicide by jumping into the Lagoon.

“The Police patrol team sighted her and rushed to rescue her before she jumped into the Lagoon,” he said.The Police boss said from his interaction with the woman, she had depression as a result of unpaid loans, adding: “She is still insisting that she wants to end her life.”

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 post-trauma programme to ensure that she had hope and not commit suicide, adding that the police would do a medical evaluation on her to ascertain her condition.

Owoseni lamented the rate at which people are committing suicide in the country and described it as worrisome, adding that the police had begun patrol of bridges across the state to forestall other cases of suicide.

He added that it was now an offence for individuals to walk on bridges in the state and that no vehicle would be allowed to stop on any bridge in the state henceforth in order to prevent suicide incidences.

“Right now, the woman is still in trauma and she still insists that she wants to end her life,” he said.However, as the woman was being led from the RRS headquarters into a waiting Police vehicle, she was confronted with several television cameras and still cameras, and she reacted by saying that nobody should take her shots because she was not a criminal.

Momoh, who also blamed financial problems for her suicide mission, said: “I am blaming the Police and the people who rescued me. I am a trader in Balogun Market and I take goods from four foreigners, who trusted me.

“I am owing $10, 000; $5, 000; $7, 000; $12, 000 and $2,000 and I was swindled by a Bureau de Change operator. “Since I was duped, I have not been sleeping. It is as if I am carrying a heavy load. Please, I am owing Rittman, Helen and Mathias. Help me to beg them to forgive me.

“I have not been sleeping well; I see those that I am owing in the dream. I am dying from lack of sleep. “My problem now is that I have been rescued and I will still face disgrace. The Police boss said it is a criminal case that I committed, but what concerns him if I kill myself? If I die, what’s his own business?

“I still want to die, because I have betrayed the trust my business partners have in me.”On her part, Ogunyinka, who gave reasons for attempting to kill herself, said: “I am owing two micro-finance banks, one N60, 000 and the other N90, 000 and the banks have been troubling me.

“I have looked all through and there is no help. I don’t want to face embarrassment. I took my house-help along with me and told her we were going to the market.“I took her along so she would tell my people and those that I am owing that I did not run away with their money. I wanted her to tell them that I had ended my life, but she was the person who raised the alarm when I plunged into the lagoon.“If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone with her because, I am going back to the same problem now.”