Taraba youths stop soldier from committing suicide

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For over an hour, residents of Jalingo, Taraba State, struggled to save a military man from committing suicide.

The soldier, whose name was given as Ali, climbed the Welcome to Taraba Roadblock Tower -over 24fts high, and threatened to jump down.

He spoke Hausa and pidgin, saying: “I want to die. Allow me to jump down and die.” But the youth who gathered there begged him not to jump, saying, “We don’t want you to die.”

Witnesses said the soldier’s behaviour attracted their attention when they spotted him on top of the tower pulling off and throwing down items of clothing on him.

He seemed to have a leg injury.

“He is an ex-soldier,” a witness said.

Police said they were unaware that an ex-soldier threatened to kill himself.

Meanwhile, the Vice-chancellor of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) Prof. Lillian Salami on Thursday in Benin City, the Edo State capital, protested the rape and killing last week of Vera Omosuwa, a first-year student of the institution.

A member of the House of Representatives representing Ovia Southwest/Ovia Northeast, Dennis Idahosa as well as National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Bamidele Akpan and many Nigerian students also protested the attack.

Prof Salami was joined by senior officials of the university, who called on security agencies to ensure diligent investigation of the gang-rape and gruesome murder of the 100 Level Microbiology student.

Omosuwa was attacked on May 27, while reading inside the auditorium of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Ikpoba Hill, Benin, but she died on May 30 at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

Idahosa condemned the attack, assuring that “the perpetuators will be brought to justice,” adding, “I am glad that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has taken over the investigation.

“It is sad to know that another student, Barakat Bello, 18, a year one student of the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Ibadan, Oyo State, was on June 1 also gang-raped and murdered in Ibadan. These evil acts cannot remain in our country, because Nigerians are people of great values.”

NANS president said such barbaric attacks must not be allowed in a decent society.

The Edo chapter of Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), led by Adesuwa Ehimuan, also condemned the gang-rape and murder of Omosuwa.

The new Commissioner of Police in Edo, Johnson Kokumo vowed to apprehend Omosuwa’s killers.

Members of the House of Representatives yesterday called for stiffer penalty, including death, for rapists.

The lawmakers urged the Inspector General of Police to establish special units in all state commands to take charge of investigating and prosecuting cases of rape.

The House also wants the police to establish a database of convicted rapists with their photographs and publish them in newspapers regularly.

The members resolved to dress in black, at the next sitting, in protest against the killing of Omosuwa, Tina Ezekwe and other victims of rape and other violeni acts against women and girls in Nigeria.

Several members of the House spoke against the rising sexual attacks on women, seeking ways to bring the menace to an end.

Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said such attacks are despicable and ungodly.

He mandated the House Committees on Human Rights, Justice and Women Affairs to work together on the issue and report back to the House within four weeks.

Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly Timothy Owoeye said the growing trend of rape cases in Nigeria are alarming and must be addressed by all.

He said, “Osun is blessed to have enacted a law that imposes stiffer sentence on perpetrators of rape. Section 358 of the Criminal Code Cap 34 Vol. 11, Laws of Osun state, 2002 prescribes a life sentence on anyone found guilty of committing rape while an attempt to commit rape attracts imprisonment of fourteen years.”

Senator Teslim Folarin (APC-Oyo Central) said he would ensure that those who gang-raped and murdered Miss Barakat Bello were brought to book.

Folarin, in a statement issued on Thursday in Ibadan by his media aide, Yekeen Olaniyi, described the incident as horrific, barbaric and shocking.

Students of Tai Solarin University of Education, who protested at the head office of The Nation newspapers, Lagos yesterday, demanded a speedy and thorough investigation of the rape and murder of Omosuwa.

They urged government to act on the increasing cases of rape in the country.

On Tuesday, a 70-year-old woman was taken to hospital in Ogun State after a man, Wasiu Bankole, reportedly overpowered and raped her.

On Thursday, police in Niger State arrested a man who reportedly raped an 85-year-old woman.