Man attempts suicide, demands N5m in Lagos

By Evelyn Usman
There was panic Thursday in Lekki area of
Lagos, after a Cameroonian who attempted to
commit suicide, climbed an electric pole,
threatening to jump down from it if he was
not giving N5 million.
He demanded for N5 million from fearful
Lagosians who appealed to him to come
down.
At about 7am Thursday the sight of the man
whose identity could not be immediately
ascertained, caught the attention of residents
of Adebisi Oguniyi Crescent, Ikate roundabout,
Lekki,
Although nobody could tell how he found his
way to the electric pole but residents made
frantic calls to security agencies to come and
salvage the situation.
Entreaties by policemen from Maroko division,
who arrived the scene first failed to pacify the
man. After staying there for over one hour, the
policemen drove off in their van, frustrated.
Part of measures applied to secure a safe
landing for him included the provision of an
inflatable trampoline by residents, for him to
jump on. Yet, he refused to come down and at
about 3pm, insisting on receiving the N5m .
Out of frustration, the inflatable trampoline
was deflated.
However, at about 5pm, the man was finally
rescued by men of the Lagos State Fire
service, eleven hours after he was sighted on
the pole.
One of the chief campaigners who attempted
to lure the Cameroonian down, was one Ken
Egbas, founder of White house PR. He
described the attempted suicide as a display
of lack of responsibility by security agents.
With the hashtag #SuicideAttempt he wrote on
he tweeted , "I have temporarily left scene for
my office after being on ground
from 6:30am and making every effort on
#SavingCitizenPoleClimber.
"The hard lessons from today: Lesson 1: our
response to emergencies as a society is
appalling. Nobody takes responsibility
#SuicideAttempt.
“We have people who adorn various uniforms
of the various government/ security agencies
who don't have the values and ethics required
#SuicideAttempt.
"If you have a serious emergency security
wise, do not expect any response from
government. It's not yet election time
#SuicideAttempt.
Director , Lagos State Fire Service, Rasaq
Fadipe who expressed joy over the success at
luring the man down, said “the victim, a
Cameroonian was rescued alive with minor
injuries and conveyed to the hospital”