A driver, Kingsley Benson, on Monday, averted a suicide attempt of a passenger in Calabar, Cross River State.
Benson detailed that he seized the initiative and swung into action to save the suicidal female passenger from killing herself after she displayed some alarming signs.
Speaking in a chat with Vanguard, Benson said the female passenger (names withheld) made a cryptic remark that troubled him when he picked her up at Bogobiri area of the city.
According to him, the passenger asked her to turn on the air conditioner as she would like to enjoy one last time before her demise.
He added that she was with a nylon whose content he figured was sniper, a popular insecticide that has now become the go-to substance for people contemplating suicide in the country.
“A lady girl requested a ride from Bogobiri this morning, I observed she was looking really sad. I tried to at least start a conversation, but she just gave a “fake” smile, and requested I turn on my air conditioner.
“Her request was what got me worried because she said “Driver please turn your air-conditioner, let me enjoy this last one. Although I ignored her first statement, before we got to her destination at Edgerly in Calabar South, the statement came up again.
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“Then my instincts made me take a closer look at the nylon bag that she was with, although not transparent enough, it had the shape of this sniper container.
“That was when I knew something was wrong. It then dawned on me that she wanted to commit suicide, and I started thinking of what to do to help her.
“I knew there wasn’t time to start talking, so I told her I needed to make a quick stop at Watt market and she agreed, I thought of driving to Atakpa police station but I changed my mind because something told me that Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital would be the best place to make a stopover.
“As I entered Calabar road, I told her I needed to buy fuel because the hospital also has a filling station, immediately I drove into the premises, I went straight to report what I observed. I told them I was a bolt driver and explained my observation.
“Immediately, they took her into their facility and checked her bag, they discovered she had sniper and said she wanted to end it all when I dropped her at home. They asked me to leave and took her details, I believe she will be talked out of the situation,” the driver detailed.
The passenger has since been hospitalised at the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Calabar Road.
