Man attempts suicide over ‎unpaid gratuity in Bauchi

Tragedy was averted on Monday in Bauchi state when a man who claimed to be a retired civil servant attempted to kill himself but was stopped when the Assistant Secretary of NUJ Bauchi, Mallam Kabiru Garba arrived.

The man, whose name was given as Alhamdu B. Dan’azumi reportedly, attempted committing suicide at the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Bauchi.

Dan’azumi’s mission would have been achieved if not for the quick intervention of the Assistant Secretary of the State Council, Alhaji Kabiru Garba who arrived the scene few minutes to the act.

Speaking to Daily times in his office, Kabiru Garba, said he was at the Press Center at about 8am to make ready one of the NUJ halls for a Workshop which was slated for today (Monday) when he met the Alhamdu.

Kabiru said, “I arrived the NUJ this morning, Monday, 4th March, 2019 at about 8am and I met one man who approached me and introduced himself to me as Alhamdu. He said he came here at about 7am. I saw him half naked with a rope in his hands, in fact, he had tied it to the Mango tree within the NUJ and was sitting on a chair.

“So when I enquired to know what he was doing here at that time of the day with a rope in his hands, he told me he arrived the NUJ and wanted to hang himself with the rope. I asked him why he wanted to do that, and why he wanted to do that in NUJ Secretariat.

“He told me that he came from Ningi local government area about 31 days ago and that when he arrived Bauchi he proceeded to Potiskum in Yobe State with a plan to go to Sambisa so he would have Boko Haram kill him. But when he got there, he changed his mind and came back to Bauchi.”

Garba said he asked him why he wanted to kill himself and he told him he is HIV positive and has a lot of debts that he needed to pay but could not due to the non-payment of his entitlements.

“He told me he is a retired teacher in Ningi LGA who had spent 35 years in service and had retired but his gratuity was not paid. He also told me himself, his wife and two children are all HIV positive and have accumulated a lot of debt from neighbours which he needs to settle”.

The man informed Garba that he wanted to give two of his daughters out in marriage but couldn’t get the money to do so and had borrowed from different people amounting to over N800, 000 to do a lot of things.

“He (Dan’azumi) said because the debtors are pursuing him to pay them their money, he doesn’t have peace of mind the”, the NUJ Assistant Secretary narrated.

Garba, who is also a Senior Special Assistant to the NUJ National President, North-East, Mr. Chris Isiguzo, further told newsmen that the said Alhamdu told him that he wanted to hold a Press Conference and afterwards kill himself in the presence of newsmen.

Garba said, “according to Alhamdu, his gratuity stood at over N1.6 million and is in dire need of the money to offset the debts on his head”.

“He told me that if the state government did not pay him his entitlements from today till Friday this week, he will kill himself. So I decided to carry him in my car to the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners where the Chairman addressed him and pleaded with him not to kill himself,” he stated.

Mallam Garba said the man was then referred to the appropriate place to lay his complaint because he was not an employee of state government but local government where he is supposed to receive his gratuity.