An Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Abayomi Shogunle, has pleaded with Lagos drivers to help reduce suicide rate in the Lagos Lagoon through the Third Mainland Bridge.
Shogunle, who is the Head of the Police Public Complaints Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU), made this known in a tweet while reacting to the death by suicide of a staff of Radio Nigeria, Sheriff Oladejo, on Friday.
According to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos Police Command, Oladejo had told the driver of aToyota Corolla vehicle he was in to stop on the bridge under the pretext that he wanted to urinate.
Oladejo reportedly stunned the driver and other passengers by diving into the lagoon instead.
An eyewitness, George Ikechuwu, said, “We were on Third Mainland Bridge after the UNILAG Waterfront about 9am. I was behind the brown Toyota Corolla 2001 model where the man was. There were three people inside the car, the driver and a woman sitting in the front. The man sat at the back.
“There was a faulty vehicle on the road, so we all had to reduce our speed. I noticed the car (the Toyota Corolla) in front of me slowed down, and the man jumped out in front my car. I thought their car was over-flooding and he wanted to call the attention of the fishermen to help them with water or he wanted to urinate. But the next thing I saw was that the tall man climbed the culvert. He wore a grey shirt with brown trousers and a cap. The man wore a very desperate look. He should be in his late 40s.
“My wife and I were looking at him as he held the railings and jumped into the water, head-first. I parked immediately and disembarked from my car. The driver of the Toyota Corolla also came down. We could not see any trace of his body because the water was calm.”
Reacting, Shogunle said suicide on the Third Mainland Bridge could be stopped if drivers refused to stop for any passenger to alight on the bridge.
See tweet:
The man who jumped into the lagoon from Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos yesterday morning identified by family as Sheriff Oladejo, staff of Radio Nigeria.
🚨 Driver, don’t stop if a passenger request you stop on TMB.
If in a vehicle, don’t ever allow anyone alight on TMB.#Suicide
— Abayomi Shogunle (@YomiShogunle) November 3, 2018
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