FEAR OF DEATH: Pensioner In Edo State Chickened Out Of Suicide Plan At The Eleventh Hour

A retired civil servant in Edo State, who had threatened penultimate week to either hang himself or eat rat poison, has chickened out of the plan at the eleventh hour. Mr. Dennis Amayo, a 64-year old husband and father, had two weeks ago written an open letter to Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, threatening to kill himself on February 14th, a day dedicated to the celebration of love as espoused by Saint Valentine, if the state government fails to pay him his eight months pension arrears. Asked why he refused to kill himself on Friday as he had earlier threatened to do, Amayo, whose last duty post as a civil servant of Edo State Civil Service was as a Field Officer in the Edo State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said he has postponed the evil day by another two weeks. Amayo, who admitted the fact that a suicide attempt in whatever form constituted an offence against the state, had embarked on a solo protest through major streets in Benin City, to the Government House, Edo State House of Assembly and the state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists amongst other places. In an open letter to the state governor, Mr. Amayo stated, "Dear Comrade Governor, you owe me eight months pension arrears. Please Sir, pay me before February 14, 2014. Otherwise, I will commit suicide." He further threatened that before he kills himself, he will rub his body with the ashes of the card with which he voted Oshiomhole into power. "I voted Oshiomhole into power. I will burn my voter's card and put the ashes on my chest," he declared. The pensioner, who resides at Number 79, Sapele Road in Benin City and who hails from Igbanke in Orhiomnwon Local Government Area of Edo State, had further stated that he was offering himself as a sacrificial lamb so other pensioners in the state and other parts of the country could be paid with dispatch. "After I am gone, may be the government would take the welfare of pensioners, who have given their productive life to the service of the state, more seriously," Amayo offered. And as to the method of death he intended to adopt, the Amayo had gazed into the sky for some minutes before releasing the bombshell: "There are several ways to die. I may take rat poison or hang on an electric wire. But most importantly, help me to tell the governor to pay my money before then." Asked why he was so desperate to end his life even when his case might not be the worst in the state, Amayo, who claimed to have four grown up children one of whom is presently pursuing greener pastures in Spain, replied, "All I want is for the state government to pay me my eight months pension before February 14, 2014. As I speak with you, my father's remains, who died three months ago, is still lying in a mortuary in Agbor. I am not scared if police arrest me tomorrow because I am tired of life. I gave my life to the service of this state. Why should I be made to suffer untold hardship?" While the suicide bidder confessed that he was yet to be paid his pension arrears since the ultimatum to the state government began, sources that are familiar with him told Saturday Mirror that he chickened out of the threat even as his children were ashamed to have read the report. Our correspondent further gathered that the state government was presently making renewed efforts to pay all the pension arrears of pensioners in Edo State even as the government has repeatedly admitted that the shortfalls in Federal Allocation to states for about eight months now was partially responsible for the accumulation of arrears in pension pay. According to the Bendel State of Nigeria Gazette, dated 18th January, 1979, Amayo was employed as a field overseer with an appointment letter dated July 7th 1978 in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Gist Arena