A 40-year old bricklayer, Taofeek Muraina was caught for the second time attempting to take his own life.
It was learnt his first attempt was about five months ago, while the second one was on December 5, 2012 when he had wanted to poison himself to death, but for the intervention of a neighbour, his action was aborted.
Since his childhood days, Muraina, has been battling with an acute eye condition. As he grows, his condition worsens, making life unbearable for him. Painfully giving the reasons he contemplated suicide, he said, “Life is unbearable for me. I was born with an eye problem. My wife, Tawa, left me and dumped our 10-year-old son with me. I learnt that she has gotten married to another man. I attempted to commit suicide by poisoning myself while my son and neighbours were not at home but my landlady got home while I was preparing the concoction.” The father of one whose left eyeball is bulging out from the socket, also said he has been living with severe pain, “This is causing acute pain for me. I have been living in pain since I was born. It became worse during the crisis within the National Union of Road Transport Workers three years ago at Moniya. I was hit in my eyes by an object and since then it had been worse.” Pitiable Muraina, who resides at Gunwin Akingbile, Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State, lamented that aside the pains he suffers, he has also become an object of mockery in his neighbourhood. He said, “I am a bricklayer and I mould blocks. People in the neighbourhood always make jest of me. I take native treatment because I cannot afford the cost of surgery. I decided to end it all because I could not afford the cost of surgery and no one wishes to help me. With my condition, I still manage to work to feed myself and my son but people hate me.” However, it was also learnt that his family members promised to help me out of his misery but they are yet to fulfil their promise due to lack of fund. Meanwhile, Muraina’s landlady, Mrs. Aminat Oseni, narrated what transpired between her and the visibly frustrated man. She said he had been her tenant for five years and had on two occasions attempted taking his own life. “He (Muraina) is a friend to my son, Fatai, who is a welder. My son appealed to me that we should accommodate him when he came begging for accommodation. According to him, he was sent packing by his former landlord on the grounds that the landlord’s family wanted to make use of the apartment. But he said the landlord only ejected him because of his eye problem.” The landlady also confirmed that Muraina’s relatives tried to help him but due to financial constraint, they could not “When they saw him they burst out crying. They said that they would take him to the hospital but they could not do so for lack of funds.”
A close friend to the victim, Yusuf Oseni, disclosed that he (Muraina) left his ailment untreated because of poverty. “That is why five months ago he attempted to commit suicide by hanging. Having tried all available means to help himself, he decided to take his own life. He has no money to treat himself in the hospital. He is alone with his problem. When he went to the University College Hospital, he was asked to pay N10m.” He said.
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