A young man in his early 30s, identified as Utibe Eteffia has taken his own life through lethal poison after falling victim to cyber criminals popular known as Yahoo Boys, who cleared out his account to the tune of N2.5 million, LEADERSHIP learnt at the weekend in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
“He lived by Akpakoruk street at Atan Ofot, area of Uyo, and was doing a Point of Sale (PoS) business by the adjoining street opposite the State council secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), before his sad demise,” a neighbour, popularly called Eka Baby, told our correspondent.
Prior to his death last Friday, it was gathered he had been posting his obituary on social media with the picture of a lit candle, as his audience and friends reacted to his frightening, “Do you believe in reincarnation?”
At one point, he was said to have posted some advisory messages, asking people to be their brothers’ keeper by showing love and help to those in need.
The suicide man, who was said to be clutching an expensive iPhone, which he dashed out to his sister with a pin code of his ATM card, according to neighbours, had become reclusive a few days to his death as he was doing the count down; “27 days left” with his social media followers oblivious of the impulse of such action.
“Sometimes, he would remain in his house crying. Some nights he would make calls to people till even 4:00 am,” Aniefiok Isang, who identified himself as his customer and neighbour, recalled.
“About one week to committing the suicide, he came to my house, asking me if I have rat poison. When I probed further, he explained that he wanted to use it to clear some rodents in his house.
“I was also told he went to a chemist shop in the neighbourhood to check the poisonous substance and succeeded in buying one before travelling to his village to take his life,” Ubong Idem, a local resident of Atan Ofot, said.
The deceased, from Ini local government area, having lost both parents at a very young age, it was learnt, was raised by his aunt, who saw him through secondary school, and got financial assistance from family and friends to run the PoS business.
Struggling to find his right footing in these hard times, he was said to have deployed his iphone into running a cyber deal with criminals on social media, who introduced him into the cult cartel running Yahoo- Plus business and ended up being dupped after being initiated.
It was gathered that his indoctrination into the cult disorganised his psyche and thought pattern, causing him to begin looking beyond the present world to the imaginary abode.
According to a family source, when he got home after travelling a distance of about 45 minutes from Uyo to Ini LGA, he was said to have asked his late father’s brother and others whether they would not go to Church, to which they replied that not much was happening in Church that day, that they would rather pray in the house.
At that point, he was said to have asked the uncle to lend him money, but the uncle disclosed to him that he was only with N10,000, to which he murmured in passing, “how much can N10,000 do?”
In the evening, he was said to have gone to Church and returned in the late evening hours and waited for everyone to retire before hitting his system with the lethal substance.
His remains were discovered lifeless on the veranda to the utter shock and surprise of the family, who sent a delegation to search his house for any evidence connected to his death, to no avail.
“We will not bury him now until we know why he took the difficult decision to end his life,” a family source disclosed.
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