A 17-year-old boy simply identified as Lanre, was on Friday promptly rescued by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, of the Lagos
State Police Command when he attempted to commit suicide.

Lanre, a secondary school leaver, had attempted to jump from the Third Mainland Bridge into the Lagoon.

He was however rescued by men of the RRS.   Confirming the incident, the RRS Commander, Olatunji Disu, told newsmen that “Some RRS men were on a regular patrol of the Third Mainland  Bridge when a roving mechanic drew their attention to a lone teenager standing by the edge of the bridge and looking into the Lagoon curiously.

“On getting to the scene, he was seen standing on the crash barrier, ready to dive into the Lagoon. He was however, held in the legs by the RRS officials before he could jump.”

Disu noted that the teenager has been taken to the RRS headquarters.

Lanre, and the second child of four children and the first boy of his mother, told the RRS Commander that he decided to jump into the Lagoon
after losing N6,000 and a mobile phone to hoodlums on the Lagos Island.

According to him, his mother had given him the N6, 000 to get foodstuffs at Ita Faaji Market, when the hoodlums collected his phone and the money from him.

Lanre said, “I couldn’t summon the courage to go back home to tell my
mum that I lost the money. I don’t know those guys and I have never
seen them before.”

Lanre’s mother, who was summoned to the RRS office, said she was
shocked to learn that he attempted suicide.

She said, “He has just finished his secondary school. I don’t know why
he wanted to commit suicide. He is a sickle cell anaemia patient, but
he has never been admitted in a hospital before. If I don’t tell you,
you won’t know. He is athletic and doing just fine.

“His father has traveled overseas and re-married. We are doing fine

with our lives,” his mother added.

“If he had returned home to tell me what happened, the worst I could
have done was to slap him. I know I have been an exceptional mother to
my four children. I have never allowed them to miss their father and
they are doing quite well in their studies,” she said.

The Commander said Lanre would be released to his mother.