- Bassey remains in Kiri Kiri prison after attempting suicide
All a Nigerian girl said in Paris, France in 2018 was “I am going to kill myself” and her life was never the same again.
The French government quickly paid attention to her, committed her to the hospital where she spent a few months and upon her discharge, provided accommodation while engaging her in different apprenticeship work.
This isn’t the case for Bassey (not his real name) a Nigerian who relocated from his native town, Uyo to Lagos in 2019.
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The story which was posted on Sunday evening by a Nigerian lawyer, Chukwudi Iwuchukwu who said he had an opportunity to speak with Bassey at the court where he was being tried.
Bassey’s nemesis started from his frustration to secure a job where he squats with his relative at his one-bedroom face me I face you apartment (a bed-sitting apartment) in Iyana Ipaja.
Ever since he arrived Lagos, he had struggled because of lack of jobs and decent economic opportunities to improve his life, pay his bills and perhaps, send money to his poor parents in the village.
Everything the 21-year-od Bassey had planned to do when he arrived in Lagos had dashed, and he became very depressed.
One day, with no solution in sight and constant bugging from his family to send money, the depressed Bassey contemplated suicide.
One morning, the frustrated Bassey woke up, walked to the nearest shop where he bought a concoction called ‘sniper and a bottle of coke’ the post revealed.
He mixed the two substances and then said his last prayer for God to accept his soul.
The depressed job seeker found himself in immense pain as the combination he had bought did not work as planned, instead, left him wriggling on the floor until his relative returned home.
Knowing what he had done, his relative rushed him to the nearest hospital where the doctor battled to save his life for 14 days.
Luckily for him, his hospital bill was paid by the Akwa Ibom indigenes living in Iyana Ipaja.
Instead of releasing Bassey to his relative, the hospital hands him over to the Nigerian police force where he remains at the time of filing this report.
Barrister Iwuchukwu said Bassey was “interrogated for two days” and was later charged to court for the offence of “wanting to take his life”.
In Nigeria, suicide and suicide attempt are criminal offences, therefore, Bassey is still battling to be free from the grips of the law.
The magistrate judge after listening to his plea remanded him in Kirikiri prison.
The lawyer said “His case came up last week Friday, I was in that court for another business and I was hoping that Bassey will get bail, unfortunately, the magistrate did not turn up so he was taken back to Kirikiri prison to spend the weekend.
“Bassey told me on Friday before he was taken away by prison officials that he is being detained in the same cell with hardened criminals and also his stomach is still paining him, apparently he has not totally recovered from the attempted suicide.”
A tale of two Nigerians in different countries revealed how the Nigerian government treat vulnerable people, particularly those with mental issues.
The Attorney lamented the sorry state of the nation, adding “A 21 young Nigerian is tired of his life and wanted to commit suicide and the best we can do for him is to arrest him and remand him in prison and then exposed him to hardened criminals in the process.”
Iwuchukwu described Nigeria as a “pure cruise and Inisha Allah” while calling on his generation to “make Nigeria work” by doing better than “our parents are doing at the moment”, warning that the consequences of failure are dire.
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