Suicide mission: Woman throws child into lagoon, jumps in too

What could have led a young woman to fling her son into the lagoon as she also jumped into it in a suicidal bid? This is the riddle that many on the Lagos Island are yet to find an answer to.

It was Tuesday evening at the Leventis Bus Stop area of Ma­rina and normal business ac­tivities were going on when the young woman whose identity remains unknown was noticed making a phone call to someone presumed to be her husband.

Although the tone of the dis­cussion was laced with anger and pain, not many knew that it was an action that would pre­cede a suicide attempt.

But suddenly and in a fit of madness, she flung her son into the lagoon to the consternation of all.

She did not wait to watch what would become the fate of the poor boy before she also jumped into the lagoon.

Those standing by, among whom are some local divers, who saw the unfolding drama could not believe their eyes.

But the scene was not one to watch for long as they quickly dived into the lagoon on a res­cue mission as others watched in bewilderment.

Their efforts yielded fruit shortly after with the rescue of the woman as she was returned to the shore.

But the same could not be said of the baby. He was no­where to be found.

Additional efforts were made but to no avail. The boy was gone.

Said an eye witness who re­fused to disclose his name: “We stood here discussing when we noticed the woman angrily speaking with someone sus­pected to be her husband on the phone as she stood on the wedge fencing the lagoon away. But suddenly, she flung the baby into the lagoon and jumped into it too. That was when those around who could swim dived in to rescue her. Unfortunately, the boy could not be found.”

The second day after the sui­cide mission, however, the body of the boy was found floating on the lagoon. He was lifeless.

The woman, upon rescue was handed over to the police at the Marine Police Station at the Leventis Bus Stop.

The boy’s lifeless body was also handed over to the police.

Further investigation by our correspondent revealed that the woman had been taken away from the police station as at the time of going to press while the corpse of his son deposited in a mortuary.

It would be recalled that about four years ago, Lago­sians watched in amazement at the Leventis bus stop in Ma­rina, Lagos, when a ministerial nominee, Mr. Al-Mustaim Alade Abaniwonda, aged 56, dived into the lagoon under mysterious circumstances about 3pm.

He eventually drowned in the lagoon.

Abaniwonda was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sena­torial candidate for Lagos East in the April 9, 2011 National As­sembly election.

According to Abaniwonda’s driver, simply identified as Wa­siu, the senatorial candidate, who lost to the incumbent Sena­tor Tunde Ashafa of the Action

Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and whose name was among the list of 10 nominees sent to Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan at the time for consideration as minis­ter from Lagos State, was com­ing from a bank on Lagos Island when he told the driver that he was pressed and would need to use the toilet.

Wasiu said: “He ate his food after we left the bank and he told me he was going to use a toilet down there. That was all until I heard people shouting. He was still struggling to get out when I got there but he later went down inside the water.”

Wasiu was promptly arrested by police officers attached to the Marine Police Division at whose backyard the incident took place.

It was gathered that when the politician jumped into the river, he was still able to stand upright but he deliberately walked into a deeper portion of the lagoon.

A toilet operator, said: “We didn’t know what happened in the vehicle before he came down. But when he got to us, he told us he wanted to use our toi­let. We were still looking for the key and water when he walked towards the river.

“He took off his jacket, wrist­watch, wallet and made for the lagoon side. We were even tell­ing him that is not the toilet, he insisted on going towards other direction. We called him again and he answered in Yoruba say­ing: Ani mo fe se gaa, meaning, “I want to defecate”. All of a sudden we just saw him in the lagoon.

The Epe-born politician, was a senatorial candidate for Lagos East under the Alliance for De­mocracy (AD) and the ACN be­fore crossing over to the PDP in 2003 after he sought to contest the senatorial district’s ticket on ACN’s platform but was asked to step down for the even­tual winner of the ticket, Hon. Olorunnibe Mamora,

Abaniwonda holds a first de­gree from the University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo Univer­sity, Ile-Ife).

He is the founder and manag­ing partner of Alade Abaniwon­da & Partners, an investment company, with offices at the CSS Bookshop building, Broad Street, Lagos.