By Christopher Oji

Two women who attempted suicide by jumping into the lagoon on the Third Mainland and Carter bridges in Lagos were yesterday rescued.

One of them, Abigail Ogunyinka, succeeded in plunging into the lagoon, around Carter Bridge, but was rescued by divers who quickly fished her out.

The other, Taiwo Titilayo Momoh, was rescued while attempting to leap into the waters on Third Mainland Bridge.

The incident came six days after a medical doctor, Allwell Orji jumped into the lagoon from the same bridge, and another woman’s bid failed on the Mile Two-Mazamaza link bridge.

The remains of Dr. Orji were recovered from the waters on Wednesday.

The two women gave reasons why they attempted to kill themselves.

Ogunyinka said: “I am owing two Microfinance banks. One, N60, 000 and the other N90, 000 and the banks have been troubling me. I have looked all through and there is no help. I don’t want to face embarrassment. I took my househelp along with me and I told her we were going to the market. I took her along so that she would tell my people and those that I owe that I did not run away with their money. I wanted her to tell them that I had ended my life, but she raised the alarm when I plunged into the lagoon. If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone with her because, I am walking back to the same problem.”

On her own, Momoh who also blamed financial problems for her suicide bid said: “I am blaming the police and the people who rescued me. I am a trader in Balogun Market and I took goods from four foreigners who trusted me. I owe $10, 000; $5, 000; $7, 000; $12, 000 and $2,000 and I was swindled by a Bureau de change operator.

“Since I was duped, I have not been sleeping. It is as if I was carrying a heavy load. Please, I owe Ritmam, Helen and Mathias. Help me to beg them to forgive me. I have not been sleeping. I see those that I owe in the dream.  I am dying from lack of sleep.

“My problem now is that I have been rescued, I will still face disgrace. The police boss said it is a criminal case that I committed, but what is his concern if I kill myself; if I die, what is his own? I still want to die, because, I have betrayed the trust my business partners have for me”.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, told newsmen at the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) headquarters, Alausa,  that Momoh was in a taxi headed towards Oworonshoki on Third Mainland Bridge when she told the taxi driver to stop on the bridge.

According to Owoseni, the woman was about to jump into the water when a police patrol team on a routine patrol on the Third Mainland Bridge sighted her and rushed to save her before she jumped into the lagoon.

“She attempted suicide by trying to jump into the lagoon around Oworonshoki inward Mainland on Third Mainland Bridge. Unfortunately for her, she was rescued.

“The police patrol team sighted her and rushed to rescue her before she jumped into the Lagoon,” he said.

The CP said from his interaction with the woman, she had depression as a result of unpaid loans, adding that, “she is still insisting that she wants to end her life.”

Owoseni noted that committing suicide was an offence under the law, but that the police would try to talk the woman out of committing suicide.

He said the woman would be taken through post-trauma programme to ensure that she had hope and not commit suicide, adding that the police would do a medical evaluation on her to ascertain her condition.

Owoseni lamented the rate at which people committed suicide in the country, describing it as worrisome, adding that the police had begun to patrol the bridges across the state to forestall other cases of suicide.

He added that it was now an offence for individuals to walk on bridges in the state and that no vehicle would be allowed to stop on any bridge in the state henceforth, in order to prevent suicide incidences.

“Right now, the woman is still in trauma and she still insists that she wants to end her life,” he said.

However, as the woman was being led from the RRS headquarters into a waiting police vehicle, she was confronted with several television cameras and still cameras and she reacted by saying that she was not a criminal and that her shots should not be taken.