Many residents of Warri and Uvwie local government areas in Delta State are shocked and saddened by the suicide of a woman in her 30s.
They wondered why she would deliberately jump down from the Ekpan flyover that resulted in her death penultimate Saturday.
Although some blamed it on depression or frustration, others said it could be a result of spiritual manipulation.
Eyewitnesses, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, said they heard the lady screaming she was tired of life, adding that they thought she was making a skit video.
According to them, before they could come to terms with the situation, she had fallen backwards from the flyover, smashing her skull on the busy NPA Road.
Worried by the incident, Deltans have urged the state and federal governments to erect high protective rails on both sides of the flyover to discourage such an act in the future.
A resident, who didn’t disclose his identity, said: “It is not enough for us all to lament this shocking incident. Government should begin to erect protections on both sides of flyovers and bridges in the state. This was how it started at the Lagoon area in Lagos State and after several cases of suicide deaths had been recorded there, I heard police operatives started patrolling the area to prevent occurrences.”
However, the state’s Police spokesman, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed to Sunday Vanguard that the incident was not a skit as seen in a trending video, saying before the police got to where the lady landed, her corpse had been evacuated.
“We heard of the incident but before our men got there, they have taken the corpse of the woman away,” he said.
A resident of Warri, Mr Efe Charles, said police and good hearted Deltans should stop pedestrians from walking on these flyovers.
He said: “They are meant for vehicles so people should be discouraged from using them as routes to anywhere on foot. This will discourage others that may want to do something similar.”
Francis, another Warri resident, said he was surprised that this sad incident came barely few days after a promising Deltan identified as Nick Imudia allegedly jumped from a height at his Lekki residence in Lagos State to his death.
“Could it be that the lady was negatively influenced by the reported death of Nick Imudia, who committed suicide at his apartment in Lagos State as we heard in the news recently? There are too many questions on my mind.”
A journalist in Warri, who did not want him name mentioned, said the incident spoke to our sensitivity as a nation, wondering why those under the flyover did not make any move to save the girl.
He said: ”I was sad that those under the flyover were busy videoing and saying: ‘she go soon jump oooo, she mean am, she wan die o’. They should have arranged for a Keke to rush to rescue her.”
