Barely three days after 47-year-old Afolake Abiola , reportedly committed suicide last Friday, in her apartment on 1, Abayomi Kukomi Close, Osapa London, in Lekki area of Lagos, some undisclosed medical condition apart from depression have emerged.
According to Vanguard, this was confirmed by some residents of the area where the unfortunate incident happened.
Sources had reported that the late Abiola, a chattered Accountant who has worked with one of the telecommunication companies committed suicide by drinking ‘Sniper’, a popular pesticide.
The aforementioned publication reported that one of the tenants, a retired civil servant, Patrick Olumhense, said “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”, said the octogenarian
Apparently, Olumhense’s confessions provided a bit of stability to the shell-shocked gateman identified simply as Junior. Initially, he was too shocked to speak about what he knew about the deceased and volunteered to take the reporter to 80 –year old Olumhense.
When 25-year-old Junior managed to speak, he said, “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.
The younger brother of the deceased, Mr Tunde Abiola, who lived with her described the death of her sister as devastating. He however expressed sadness that the social media feasted on rumours to celebrate such a 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” he stated.