HOW TRUE? Man shouts Buhari and jumps into River in Lagos due to poverty

When the rich are complaining off hardship, I wonder what the average people are going through. A major tragedy was averted yesterday in Lagos, when a man jumped into the river on the Mile Two Bridge in Amuwo Odofin area of Nigeria's economic capital - Lagos.

The man, according to eyewitnesses, stood on the bridge for a while, loudly expressed bitterness over his sufferings and how things had gone bad for him and his helplessness.

He was said to have mentioned the name "Buhari" repeatedly, muttered some other words before he finally took the terrible decision.

However, the timely intervention of a passing speedboat prevented the victim, who is in his 40s, from drowning.

Passengers on the speedboat dived into the river, dragged the man who was gasping for breath to the riverbank before continuing their journey.

A witness, Mr. Andy Odiaka, said the victim was left on the floor for a while, unconscious.

Odiaka told The Sun that he called the state emergency number – 112, which facilitated the arrival of the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) in about 20 minutes.

The three-man medical team, went ahead of the bus to resuscitate the victim. According to one of the medics, the man had to be given first aid drip, because he was too weak to make it to hospital.

Odiaka said: “I was there on the bridge where the man was also standing. He was speaking to himself. He said he had no transport fare to move from one place to another. He said his suffering was too much that he could hardly feed. I also heard him saying life was meaningless to him. He mentioned Buhari many times, and the next thing I saw, the man jumped from the bridge into the water.

“He is an Igbo man because he was speaking the language. I thought he was joking when he said he was tired of everything around him.

“If not for a speedboat that was passing, he would have died. The boat stopped and the passengers dragged him to the riverbank and they continued their journey.

“Thereafter, nobody was ready to assist him. People simply looked at him, expressed sympathy and continued their journey. I have to call an emergency number,” he said.

Before the ambulance came, it was gathered that sympathisers, including Mr Odiaka, contributed about N1,000 with the intention of taking the victim to the hospital.

Another witness said he ran to the place and saw the man almost dying, but did not know what to do to help him out of the situation. He said he mobilised others at the scene to donate money to take the victim to a hospital.

“The man said he was tired of life and he wanted to kill himself,” he said.

When the man's pockets were searched for any means identity, only N90 was found on him.