A young man during the week was rescued by men of the Lekki Concession Company ok Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge in Lagos State from commiting suicide.

The young man as seen in the video was crying uncontrollably as he was rescued and being consoled by the officials of the Lekki Concession Company who have to promise him a job as a way to encourage him change his mind from commiting suicide.

It would be recalled that last weekend, a 45 years old woman, an accountant with one of the leading Telecommunication companies in Nigeria, Folake Abiola killed herself also in Lagos State over her alleged inability to secure marriage with a man and alleged lack of sex for years as a single lady.

Watch the moment a young man was rescued from attempting suicide by officers of the Lekki Concession Company on Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge. He’s said to have been handed over to the police.
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There have been cases of suicide deaths committed by Nigerians who appeared to be frustrated with the hardship many are currently faced with since President Muhammadu Buhari came into power.

Third mainland bridge in Lagos has always been the point where most of the Nigerians fed up with life usually ends or attempts to commit suicide.

Punch Newspaper in its report in 2020 entitled: “Third Mainland Bridge: Nigeria’s Longest Bridge Where Suicide Is Cheap” gave show pictures of some numbers of cases of Nigerians commiting suicide in Lagos State.

Some aspects of the newspaper report is presented verbatim.

Third Mainland Bridge: Nigeria’s longest bridge where suicie is cheap

AFEEZ HANAFI

Quiet and unassuming, he went about life so easily that nothing suggested he had worries tucked in his heart. At age 21, a first degree in Quantity Survey was already done and dusted.

Everything appeared smooth sailing for Toju Daibo until last Saturday when the fresh graduate of the University of Lagos reportedly plunged into the lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge. The sudden turn of events has raised lots of questions, many of which still beg for answers.

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He had hurriedly disembarked from an Uber car that morning on the pretext that he had stomach upset and was nauseous. The car had picked him up in front of a hospital close to Sosanya Street, Gbagada-Soluyi en route to Ikeja airport where he would board a flight to Abuja – his parents’ place of residence.

Many concluded Daibo could have been battling depression in silence, snowballing into suicide. But for his family who knew him as “an easy-going, kind-hearted, wonderful boy all along,” the narrative stood fact on its head.

“Toju (Daibo) on his normal self will never jump into the Lagoon,” his sister, Omasan, said.

With many beautiful plans queuing for the young man, Omasan and other members of the family saw no reason why Daibo would end his own life.

“He studied Quantity Survey at the University of Lagos and just graduated; the plan his father has for him was to further his study in Canada after the National Youth Service Corps. He does not do drugs or touches substances or cracks,” Daibo’s mother, Kemi, told Channels Television.

“We have not heard anything from the police. His body has not been found and I want them to find him; everybody is just keeping quiet as if he does not have people. Toju is somebody; he has a family. They should find him, where is he? What happened to him? Where is Toju?” she bemoaned.

Weird as it is, Daibo was not the first person to willingly jump to their death on the Third Mainland Bridge.

Creepy suicide on alluring lagoon

Stretched on 11.8 kilometres length (7.3 miles), the nation’s longest bridge cuddles the sprawling lagoon to reveal astounding scenery. With an average of 117,000 vehicular traffic on a daily basis making it the busiest road in the country, the flyover since it was opened in 1990 has served as the major route from Mainland to Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Lekki, Ajah and Epe, where thousands of Lagosians work in government establishments, local and multinational firms and embassies.

However, in the recent times, especially in the last three years, the dark side of the bridge as a preferred suicide spot has manifested on several occasions.

In March 2017, a medical doctor, Allwell Orji, asked his driver to park on the bridge while he disembarked and hurriedly plunged into the lagoon.

A few days later, a textile dealer on Lagos Island, Titilayo Momoh, contemplated suicide at the same spot but was rescued by policemen on patrol before she jumped into the lagoon.

The 65-year-old woman said she was tired of life as a result of a huge debt hanging on her neck.

In November 2018, a middle-aged man and official of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Sheriff Oladejo, went on a suicide mission on the bridge.

That day, there was light traffic along UNILAG waterfront end of the bridge as a result of a vehicle that broke down on the road.

Oladejo, who was sitting at the back of a car, hurriedly opened the door, clung to the railings of the bridge and jumped into the water.

In May 2019, an unemployed Accounting graduate attempted suicide at the spot but was rescued by some Rapid Response Squad men. Five months later, in October 2019, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency rescued one Ayinla Rilwan, who attempted to dive into the lagoon from the bridge.

On February 2, 2020, police team from Bariga Division on routine traffic patrol sighted a 65-year-old man, Awolusi Olusegun, trying to jump into the water and came to his rescue.

Sunday PUNCH learnt that his son, Damilola, told the police that the sexagenarian was depressed and receiving treatment at the Yaba Military Hospital.

About 10 kilometers from the Third Mainland Bridge, one 36-year-old Ikechukwu Ibeh, on a suicide mission was rescued on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 by LASEMA officials in the marine unit after he plunged into the lagoon from the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge.