E’mon ‘wo’lu!
That’s the only way to describe what happened last week- it means, an abominable thing has entered our community here in Ilogbo-Eremi, Morogbo, in this Lagos State.
Omolola committed suicide last week because she wanted to spit in her mother’s face; she drank sniper, that insecticide they use to kill rodents and insects, she drank it by herself and died.
Why?
Bombastic asking!
Let me start by saying, first of all, it’s a taboo for one to take their own life, which is why you see people hissing and snapping their fingers over their heads; it is also forbidden for a parent to know the gravesite of their offspring, which is why Mama, Lola’s mother is sitting almost half naked on the floor.
Let me explain. Lola, the lady in this photo is the one who died, she died after she took sniper, you know that rat poison? Yes, she drank it, no body forced her. She drank it to spit in her own mother’s face.
Why did she want to spit in her own mother’s face?
She wanted to give her mother a bad name, that is it.
Lola and her mother both live on this same street, Lola’s house is about six or seven houses away. But she is always quarrelling with her mother over the way mama handles Deborah, who is Lola’s niece and who lives with mama.
Every time mama punishes Deborah, she will hurry to Lola to complain and Lola, will come and start harassing her own mother over that girl, Deborah…a girl that is only 16 years o.
I have known this family for more than 15 years on this street and I’ll tell you one thing, Lola is not well. She behaves like someone that has ‘skoinskoin’, you know, someone with a loose nut. She is always on her mother’s case, no matter what the woman does.
Every time she starts her wahala, we come out to make peace between mother and daughter but it was getting too much these last few weeks, until Lola began to threaten to kill herself especially when Mama said she would not release the guardianship of Deborah to Lola because Lola would spoil the girl rotten.
Everything came to a head last week, Deborah, that loose girl that will not take instructions from elders was admonished by Mama Lola for stealing N50 (fifty naira) and instead of Deborah to take to corrections, she hurried to report to Lola and Lola came as usual to accuse her mother of being harsh on Deborah.
She said her mother was also harsh on her when she was growing up and that her mother is the reason she quickly left home to get married. She accused her mother of many things, even to the point of blaming mama for the death of Deborah’s mother who was Lola’s elder sister.
Lola then said she would kill herself to give Mama a bad name; is that one not madness?
Why would you kill yourself to spite another person?
Anyway, Lola opened her tongue and showed us the rat poison she had just swallowed. I thought it was a joke!
Mama quickly shouted to neighbours to help give Lola palm oil and coconut water to neutralise the poison. I was there, we all held Lola down and forced the oil and coconut water down her throat.
What kind of evil is this?
That was when I knew Lola was mad. She is psychologically imbalanced, I swear!
She was struggling with us, screaming and causing serious commotion that day in Mama’s compound. Mama of course was crying and begging her not to take her own life.
Then, after sometime, Lola became calm and said she was going home, that we should leave her alone. After several elderly women counselled her on her foolishness and taboo of taking her own life, she appeared remorseful and asked to be let to go home.
And I tell you my sister, we thought, aha, she has come to her senses.
Unbeknown to us, Lola’s madness has no limit. She went home and in about an hour or so, came back with a bottle of sniper, she stood in front of mama and a few of us still sympathising with mama and she drank the sniper. Everyone was in shock, I was in shock, I couldn’t even believe that truly she would dare drink sniper!
She did o.
And before we could even say esobay! She was writhing in serious pain, serious pain and foaming in the mouth…long story short, that’s how Lola died o. She died right in front of mama in her compound. What we all thought was a sick joke, is not even a bad dream, it was a shocking reality.
Her husband came and accused mama of letting his wife die. I heard he told the police that after all Lola died in her mother’s presence. That one too doesn’t have sense.
Anyway, today is her burial, that’s why you see people hissing and snapping their fingers over their heads, this is a big taboo.
-Based on a true story. Names and places have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
