Pregnant teen saved from suicide attempt

Lagos police officers assigned to Ikorodu Area Command have rescued a 19-year-old pregnant girl who was about to commit suicide.

The young woman, who was eight months pregnant, had contacted a friend, expressing her despair after being abandoned by her boyfriend and facing threats from her employer over a financial problem.

Upon receiving information about her suicidal intentions, the Area Commander, Mr Musendique Orobiyi, immediately dispatched a team of female detectives to locate and rescue her. The operatives tracked her to Iyana-Iyesi, Ogun State, where they found her about to ingest a bottle of sniper pesticide.

The detectives took her back to the Ikorodu Area Command, providing her with immediate support, including food and clothing, before transferring her to the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja.

The teenager, who requested anonymity, narrated her ordeal, revealing that her troubles started after her boyfriend denied her pregnancy and disappeared. To add to her misery, she was defrauded of N100,000 by a customer while she was working as a Point of Sale (POS) operator. With no funds for antenatal care and no support system, she felt life had become unbearable.

“My problems started after I got pregnant by my boyfriend, who later denied the pregnancy and later moved out of where he was living near Oshodi. When we were dating, he said he loved me and wanted to marry me, but as soon as I got pregnant and informed him, he disowned me. As if that was not enough, I was defrauded of N100,000, while I was working as a point of sale attendant. Someone used a fake alarm to defraud me,” she narrated.

Despite the challenges, the young woman expressed gratitude for the unexpected compassion and help from the police. “I don’t know if the police can help like that. They brought me to Ikorodu and while I was there, they gave me money to feed and clothe me. Their area commander was wonderful. He made sure I was treated very well,” she said.