EKO NEWS
Drowning Despair Defied: Police Officers Intercept Street Hawker’s Leap Towards Lagos Lagoon
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Police officers averted a suicide attempt in Lagos on Tuesday.
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The person attempting suicide had planned to jump into a lagoon.
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But police officers attached to the RRS were able to dissuade him from carrying out the act.
Eko Hot Blog reports that operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in Lagos State have prevented a 25-year-old street hawker from jumping into the lagoon.
The hawker, Rabiu Nafiu, was restrained from leaping into the lagoon around 8:00 a.m on Tuesday morning.
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The RRS made the disclosure in a statement posted on social media Tuesday evening.
The police squad explained that Nafiu, on sighting the RRS officers approaching him, warned them not to restrain him from jumping.
However, the officers were said to have managed to calm him down before getting him off the edge of the bridge.
Police officers prevented street hawker, Rabiu Nafiu, from jumping into Lagos lagoon
He has been transferred to RRS HQ on the instruction of the Commander of RRS, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi.
It was not immediately clear whether Nafiu would be charged with a crime.
The police statement was vague regarding the force’s next line of action.
Nigeria has recorded an increase in reported cases of suicide in recent years.
According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Nigeria lost over 17,000 lives to suicide in 2016 — the highest in Africa at the time.
Despite research that mental health conditions trigger suicide, it is currently treated as a crime in Nigeria.
Section 327 of the Criminal Code Act, 2004, (which applies to southern Nigeria) states that: Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for one year.
In February 2022, a bill seeking to replace the punishment for attempted suicide passed second reading in the House of Representatives but it has stalled since that time.
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The amendment seeks to replace the existing section to read thus: “Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to compulsory counselling and community service for a period, not less than six months.”
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