A 12-year-old orphan has committed suicide in Agboala Ishiala Umudi autonomous community of Nkwerre council area, Imo State, following the death of his parents.
The boy, identified as Kasarachi Odurukwe, was until his death last Wednesday, a primary six pupil of Practicing School, Umudi. The Guardian gathered that the boy committed suicide by hanging himself on a rope tied to an Indian bamboo tree.
According to a villager who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the boy and his two younger siblings had lost their parents and had been living with their mother’s sister in the village. It was gathered that the deceased had been complaining about how boring the world had been to him since the death of his parents.
The source told further told The Guardian that the boy would “jokingly tell his mates that he wants to die and meet his mother and father in heaven”.
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It was gathered that on a fateful day, Kasarachi had led his two siblings and two other children to a nearby stream to fetch water. On arrival at the stream, Kasarachi was said to have assisted the other children to fill their jerrycans while he used a long stick to check the depth of the stream.
The sources said: “Having not been satisfied with the shallow depth of the water, the deceased took a rope and tied it up to a bamboo tree. His first two attempts at killing himself failed while the other children were begging him to stop.
“It was at the third attempt that on a stronger Indian bamboo tree, the rope strangled him to death. That action jolted the other kids, who ran back to the village to report the incident to the family and village elders.”
When the elders quickly thronged the scene, they called in the police who assisted in bringing down the body and deposited the same to the mortuary. It was further gathered that one of the things found on the deceased were four batteries, which some villagers said he might have intended to drink as poison.
When contacted, the state police command spokesman, Orlando Ikeokwu, said he was yet to be briefed on the incident but promised to get back to our reporter.
Also, an 85-year-old man reportedly committed suicide at Umu Ogilieze, Enugu Ezike in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State at the weekend. Pa John Ogili, a father of seven, was alleged to have hanged himself in his sitting room over alleged refusal of his children to allow him to have a lover.
The octogenarian head of Umu Asema family had reportedly taken his life following an allegation that his wife had denied him lovemaking as well as refusing to cook for him. According to neighbours, the deceased was frustrated, heart broken and depressed as his wife and children abandoned him and refused to look after him.
Ossai said: “The man usually went out to buy food from vendors and did everything for himself. His wife refused to either sleep with or cook for him. He picked a lover, but his children drove her away. That could have driven him to the extreme decision of taking his life.”
Ogili was immediately buried after police detectives visited the scene.
Meanwhile, a psychologist, Dr. Irene Ofordile, yesterday advised youths to embrace dialogue as a way of resolving their grievances and frustrations rather than take to violence or suicide. Ofordile, who works with the Anambra State Polytechnic, Mgbakwu while speaking with newsmen said suicide was a major cause of premature deaths among youths.
She lamented the increasing rate of suicide among Nigerian youths. According to her, research by the Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria (APN) and the Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative (SURPIN) indicated that about one-fifth of suicide cases occur among youths aged between 13 and 19.
“Also, the findings stated that about 63.5 per cent of youths aged 20 to 39 were having thoughts of suicide out of which 28.2 per cent of them were students. This calls for worry, especially for a country like Nigeria that has a relatively youthful population, and these youths are the major productive age group. To lose them to suicide has grave consequences for economic growth,” she said.
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