By Rita Enemuru, Reporting
Family and neighbours have commented on the alleged depression said to have caused 47-year-old Afolake Abiola’s suicide in her apartment at Abayomi Kukomi Close, in Lekki axis of Lagos, last Friday.
Reports had it that the late Abiola, a chattered Accountant who had worked with one of the telecommunication companies committed suicide by drinking ‘Sniper’, a popular pesticide.
Sequel to her demise, it was reported that a family member gave depression as the causal agent for the suicide.
According to the viral report, the family member quipped that Afolake had been battling depression on the account of no husband and child.
Speaking with close family members and neighbours, it was, however, gathered that the accountant seemed to have been suffering from mental challenges.
The younger brother of the deceased, Mr Tunde Abiola, who was living with her, expressed sadness over the way Social Media feasted on rumours to celebrate her demise, thereby compounding the pains of the bereaved family.
He said,” truly we are traumatized by her death but we are more worried about the rumours making the rounds on social media which were not confirmed.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I am not in the mood. We are now more concerned about our mother who is close to 70 years. But I have asked my wife to go and be with her. It is well.”
One of the tenants, an 80-year-old retired civil servant, Patrick Olumhense, told VANGUARD that “We were just neighbours, not relatives. We didn’t know about the death until her relatives woke us up that morning. It is a sad tale to recount. She was a very sociable and humble neighbour to us all. But she loved to be on her own.
“She did not have many friends, apart from her younger sister who used to come and spend some time with her here. She used to live with her younger brother who has built his own house, married and moved out with his wife. But in the last five years, she had been living alone.
“Quite honestly, she appeared like someone who had mental challenges. Before her father died, we used to see him rush down to the house on occasions when it seemed she had a kind of attack, he would calm her down, take her for some kind of therapy and bring her back to start a normal life.
“That happened for quite some time and were managed by the father until the man died.
“Since her father died, nobody was playing that role for her, except the younger sister who came once in a while.
“For us as neighbours, we were aware of this problem. Whenever the attack came, we would contact her sister or brother. But this time, she didn’t exhibit any symptoms.”
A 25-year-old guy identified as Junior, who is said to be the gateman, also corroborated the assertion.
Junior said that the deceased was always seen mopping around the compound aimlessly whenever the attack came on her.
“Madam’s death was a shock to me. She was the kind of woman who didn’t like noise. In fact, I am planning to leave this job because she was the only one who used to help me in this compound.
“But, I think she had a mental problem. When the attack came, she would be walking aimlessly without any destination in mind. And if you tried to stop, she would resist,” he asserted.
