A former councilor and father of seven, Mr. Benbede Kitchen, on Wednesday, committed suicide by hanging himself in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State.
The 43-year old was said to have been found at about 4 am dangling from the ceiling of his room with a bedsheet around his neck. Mr. Kitchen, popularly called G.K. Bekegbo, was said to have left no suicide note, a situation that has made the reason for the suicide hazy.
According to Saharareporters, sources in Yenagoa said Mr. Kitchen, a former supervisory councilor at the Health of the Rural Development Authority (RDA) during the administration of the late Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha, slipped into sadness, following an unexplained disappearance of his wife from their matrimonial home.
He was said to have tried, unsuccessfully, to find the wife, identified as Madam Beauty, whom he suspected of infidelity.
However, other attributed the suicide to Mr. Kitchen’s desperate financial situation, which was believed to have been the result of his sack from the Bayelsa State Civil Service by the immediate past administration of Mr. Timipre Sylva, former governor of the state.
This, they said, pushed him into alcoholism.
At his home in Ekeremor Local Government Area, SaharaReporters correspondent saw a crowd of Mr. Kitchen’s kinsmen discussing the situation.
The caretaker of his apartment, Mr. Benjamin Samuel, told newsmen that the deceased walked into his room at about midnight to request a certain phone number.
Mr. Samuel said he gave him the phone number and that was the last interaction he had with Mr. Kitchen.
“At about 6 am, I heard people crying and a knock on my door. At first, I thought it was armed robbers. I was later led to one of the rooms upstairs, where I saw his lifeless body dangling from the ceiling. I and one of my boys brought his corpse down,” he said.
Mr. Samuel added that he was later informed that Mr. Kitchen made many angry calls till well after midnight. He, however, could not place a finger on what exactly could have driven Mr. Kitchen to take his own life.
“I am confused and disturbed as to why he chose to kill himself, leaving seven lovely children behind. It is unfortunate,” he said dejectedly.