Boy attempts to jump inside lagoon for losing N6,000 to hoodlums

A seventeen-year old boy, (names withheld), who allegedly attempted to commit suicide on the Third Mainland Bridge, has been rescued by policemen from Lagos State.

The boy told the police that he decided to kill himself after losing a mobile phone and the sum of N6, 000 to social miscreants on the Lagos Island.https://t.co/Ti8QsYvyQw

The timely intervention of policemen from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), who were on regular patrol of the Third Mainland Bridge, saved the boy. Their attention was drawn by a roving mechanic on the bridge, to the lone teenager, standing on the bridge and looking into the lagoonhttps://t.co/Ti8QsYvyQw curiously. On getting to the scene, he was sighted standing on the crash barrier, ready to dive into lagoon before he was held in the legs by the RRS officials and taken to their headquarters for counselling and further investigations.

The boy, after receiving counselling from the RRS  Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Olatunji Disu, disclosed that he decided to jump into the Lagoon after losing N6, 000 and a mobile phone to ‘Area Boys’  on Lagos Island.

 “I couldn’t summon the courage to go back home to confront my mum that I lost the money she gave me to purchase foodstuffs at Ita Faaji. I don’t know those guys and I have never seen them before,” he stated.

His mother stated that she had been looking for him for couple of hours after sending him on errand. “I have searched everywhere, his friends’ and the entire neighbourhood. I was shocked to learn that he has attempted suicide by jumping into the Lagoon. He has just finished his secondary school. He went to Lagos City College. I don’t know why he wanted to commit suicide,” she said.

The woman added that, “if he had returned home to tell me what happened, the worst I could have done was to slap him and threatened him to return my money. I know I have been an exceptional mother to the four of them. I have never allowed them to miss their father and they are doing quite well in their studies.”

The boy was subsequently released to his mother at the RRS Headquarters in Alausa and they are to report back next week.

The image maker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the rescue of the boy to Lagos Metro.

-Nigerian Tribune