Farmer commits suicide in Ilorin

A middle-aged farmer in Idera community in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State has reportedly committed suicide at the weekend.

The farmer, aged 45 and said to be a hunter, reportedly committed the act by using his own gun, inserting the mouth-edge of the gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger to blow himself off.

The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the act of the man who was said to hail from Oreke community in the same local government but resident in Idera was said to have left people of the two communities in bewilderment since it happened on Saturday as they could not yet fathom reasons he resorted to taking his own life.

The incident was said to have been reported to the police in the area by one of the children of the deceased.

Spokesman of Kwara state police command, Ajayi Okasanmi, however, said he was yet to be briefed about the development.

The incident took place about five days after another suspected suicide took place in Ilorin when a lifeless body of a miner who had been complaining of hardship was found in his apartment alongside a suicide note he reportedly dropped.

Meanwhile, Kwara State Government has said it is unaware of any alleged death or suicide of any worker in the state employment on account of unpaid salaries or any other reason.

The government made the clarification while reacting to an online media report, which attributed the alleged death of a Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) worker to the failure of the state government to pay his salaries.

While maintaining that state civil servants have been fully paid up to date, the government pointed out that only local government workers are owed varying degrees of arrears by their councils and not by the state government.

In a series of tweets on Friday, via @kwaragovt, the government described the report as fake as it has not been made aware of any worker’s alleged death by family, police or labour unions.

The government in a statement signed by Muideen Akorede, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the state governor, also clarified that it is not responsible for UBEC workers and that staff of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) are paid through federal allocations to local government councils.

It further noted that while any death is sad and tragic, “it is illogical and mischievous to make such claims without proof or to believe such without any clear evidence other than the words of an opposition social media group that has no link to the workers but is closely allied to opposition elements in the state.”