Security officials prevent jobless graduate from committing suicide

An unemployed engineering graduate of Ekiti
State University, Mr. Sunday Omotayo, was on
Wednesday prevented from committing
suicide by the police and prison officials.
Omotayo, who caused a stir along Wellington
Bassey Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital,
when he deliberately jumped out of a
speeding Toyota Hiace bus, expecting to be
crushed to death by other vehicles, said he
was tired of life as he had been searching for
a job for the past 10 years after graduation.
Some policemen, who were on patrol at the
time of the incident, told our correspondent
that Omotayo had in the morning gone to the
state prison asking the officials to either kill
him or make way for him to rot in the prison.
A prison officer, who craved anonymity, told
our correspondent that they saw him – well
dressed and wearing a tie – running towards
them. He added that his action forced them
to become alert with their guns.
He said, "The next thing he said was 'shoot
me, shoot me, I want to die, I am tired of this
world'. He added that otherwise, we should
allow him to enter and die inside the prison."
The official stated that Omotayo was later
overpowered by the police, who counselled
him and forced him into a bus heading
towards the Ibom Plaza roundabout.
An eyewitness, Mr. Effiong Bassey, said
Omotayo jumped from the bus into the major
road for other vehicles to run over him.
Lying on the main road leading to Akwa Ibom
Government House, It took a while for
policemen to get him out of the road. He
insisted that he must put an end to his
poverty-stricken life by committing suicide.
Omotayo told PUNCH Metro, "There is no
state that I have not gone to in search of a
job in the past 10 years. I came to Akwa Ibom
because this is my last hope because of the
stories of Governor Godswill Akpabio and his
uncommon transformation.
"I came with the hope that with what is going
on in the state, getting a job would be easy so
that I can begin to be a man. But since I
came, I discovered that many people from
Akwa Ibom are also crying because of poverty
and joblessness."
The Police Public Relations Officer, Akwa Ibom
State Command, Mr. Etim Dickson, promised
to get back to our correspondent once he had
confirmed the story from the Divisional
Police Officer in charge of the area.