Popular actor, John Okafor, widely known as Mr. Ibu has revealed how
he was luckily stopped from taking his life in 1997 after the hardship
in his life became unbearable.
He
explained that apart from being without ‘roof over his head’ at the
time, he had endured hunger for three days before his suicide attempt
“Do you know that there was a day that I had prepared to
kill myself in Ajao Estate? That day, I was prepared to jump into a well
because of the situation that surrounded me. Three days before that
day, I had not eaten and I did not have hope of eating for the next
week. I was only surviving on water and I hate it when I bother anyone.
Most of my close friends were not bothered about my well-being even
though it was obvious that I was not alright. I remember December 18,
1997, a friend of mine who I squatted with called me in the morning and
told me that he would be going home for Christmas and he did not want
anyone to be in his room. I assured him that no one would come to his
place but he said he wanted me out of the room. I told him that I did
not have another place to stay and he should trust me that as usual, I
would take good care of the place. Though I was older than him, I did
all the washing and cleaning of the house to the extent that I washed
his panties and underwear. I did that so that I could have a roof over
my head. But out of anger, that my friend went into the house, brought
out all my things and threw them outside, then he told me to leave his
house, he locked his door and left.
“From where I was seated, I was looking at the
well. I thought to myself, ‘is it not better to end my life by jumping
into the well so that when people return in the evening and they need
water, they would discover my body and my friend would know that he was
the reason I committed suicide?’ I went to the well and as I opened the
lid and prepared to jump inside, the image of my mother’s face flashed
through my mind. I quickly closed the well and began to wonder how my
mother knew that I wanted to kill myself. My mother was still alive at
the time; she was about 80 years old. I went back and leaned by the
wall. A neighbour, Francis, was playing a song by Michael Bolton titled
‘When I am back on my Feet Again.’ The song gave me hope and I decided
to stay alive,”
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