Ibadan Woman Commits Suicide Over Friend's Unpaid Debt

 

Members of the household of a 41-year-old woman, Mrs Shakirat Rasheed, in Awotan area of Apete community in Ibadan, Oyo State were thrown into mourning on Friday afternoon when her body was discovered dangling in a room, after she was said to have committed suicide.

The incident was reported to have occurred at about 1:00 p.m.

Though details of what led to the woman’s action were sketchy as at the time of filing this report, Saturday Tribune learnt that it was not unconnected with a loan taken from a micro finance bank popularly known as LAPO.

According to a source, the woman reportedly stood as a guarantor for her friend who obtained a loan from LAPO office at Awotan area, but the friend was said to have been at large, forcing the guarantor to be paying the loan back in bits.

The friend’s action, the sources added, caused Mrs Rasheed anxiety and she seemed unable to bear the problem any longer, especially when officials of the micro-finance bank reportedly called her on Friday to see them in their office.

The call was reported to be based on the fact that Mrs Rasheed did not come with the instalment payment that was due as at that time.

According to the source, the woman’s husband, said he was unaware of the problem until Friday morning.  He was said to have told the police that on his return home that afternoon, he asked the deceased woman’s son of his mother’s whereabouts, and when the boy said he didn’t know, he started checking the rooms in the house until he saw his wife dangling from the ceiling of the food store.

Saturday Tribune also gathered that the deceased was the second wife to her husband.

It was gathered that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Apete police station led detectives to the scene of the incident, while the family said that there would be need to perform some rituals before the body could be detached from the rope hanging it from the ceiling.

When contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu, confirmed the story, saying that preliminary investigation indicated that the woman committed suicide.