A driver with an e-hailing company, Mr Kingsley Benson, on Monday saved a passenger who was on a suicide mission in Calabar.
The driver, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), explained that he had observed something quite unusual with his passenger when she boarded his vehicle.
He said the female passenger (names withheld) made a cryptic statement that unsettled him when he picked her up at Bogobiri area of the city.
According to him, “The lady requested a ride from Bogobiri this morning, but I observed she was looking really sad. I tried to initiate a conversation and she just gave me this cold and sad smile and requested I turn on my airconditioner.”
According to the driver, the passenger’s request now got him worried when she said “Driver please turn your airconditioner and let me enjoy this last one.
“But before we got to her destination at Edgerly in Calabar South, the statement came up again.
“Then my instincts made me take a closer look at the nylon bag she was carrying. Although not transparent enough, I saw what looked like bottles of sniper.
“That was when I knew something was terribly wrong. Remembering that the government had banned the substance, it then dawned on me that she wanted to commit suicide, and I started thinking of what to do to help her.
“I knew there wasn’t time to start talking, then I told her I needed to make a quick stop at Watt market and she agreed.
“I thought of driving to a Police station nearby but decided against it because the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital which is also nearby would be the best place to make a stopover.
“I told her I needed to buy fuel because the hospital also has a filling station, immediately I drove into the premises, and I went straight to report what I observed.
“Immediately they took her into their facility and checked her bag, they discovered she had sniper and she confessed she wanted to end it all when I dropped her at home.”
Efforts to reach the hospital management proved abortive, but a source who pleaded anonymity confirmed the incident, adding that relations of the lady had been contacted.