On
March 24, one Ms. Taiwo Titilayo Momoh, attempted suicide at the Third
Mainland Bridge, Lagos. Both the police and concerned citizens rescued
her from killing herself.
The said Ms Momoh was arraigned on April 21,
at the Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate Court on a one-count charge to wit:
“That you, Titilayo Momoh on the 24th day of March 2017 at about 10.00
hours at the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos did attempt to commit suicide
by jumping into the river and thereby committed an offence under Section
235 C.17, Vol. 3 of the Criminal law of Lagos State 2015.” The accused
person has since been granted bail in the sum of N500, 000, with two
sureties in like sum. She is also required to undergo psychiatric
evaluation. Her case has been adjourned till June 2017.
The attorney general and commissioner
for Justice, Lagos State is hereby invited to take special notice of
this case and to enter a nolle prosequi to ensure its discontinuance. The exercise of the power of nolle prosequi
as spelled out in Sections 174(1) and 211 of the 1999 Constitution has
been a subject of much debate. This is in spite of the Supreme Court’s
position in The State vs Ilori, due to the tendency of some AGs
to abuse such powers. But there is not a scintilla of doubt in my mind
that by discontinuing the Titilayo Momoh case, the AG Lagos would have
acted “in the public interest, the interests of justice and the need to
prevent the abuse of legal process.” I state this with due regard to the
right of the court to be seized of the matter in question, attempted
suicide being an offence in the statutes. The key issue, nonetheless, is
that there are related matters of public interest, beyond legalism.
Section 235 of the Criminal Law of Lagos
State under which Ms Titilayo Momoh has been charged for non-fatal
suicidal behaviour is in pari materia with Section 326 and 327
of the Penal Code and Criminal Codes respectively. The Criminal Code
states expressly: “Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and is liable to imprisonment for one year.” Thus in
letter and spirit, the extant law on pari-suicide in Nigeria
criminalizes the act. The only problem is that the law sounds like the
law that is applied to the act of coup making.
If you plot a coup and you succeed, you
get away with it, but if you make the mistake of failing, you find
yourself in very serious trouble. The extant law on suicide deals with
you if you fail, but the same law is helpless if you succeed. The only
difference is that whereas a coup is an act of treason against the
state, suicide is a coup against the self. Government exists because
there is a society composed of people, living people who are happy to be
alive and contribute their own quota to society. When people begin to
kill themselves at will, and at the slightest provocation, the
responsibility of government should be to inquire into the causes of
such demolition of the right to life, and therefore make amends – so the
cause of being-ness and the welfare of the people can be better
addressed.
For this reason, the Nigerian
legislature, including the State Houses of Assembly, should take a
second look at the extant law on attempted suicide. In truth, the law
has been rarely applied, the last publicized application being the case
instituted against certain persons by the Nigeria Railway Corporation
(NRC) in 2013, persons who had formed the habit of travelling on the
rooftop of trains, instead of buying tickets and taking proper seats.
The NRC took some of those persons to court for attempting suicide. They
ended up getting a slap on the wrist, they were asked to pay fines. It
must have been obvious to the court that these were not suicidal cases,
but persons who just wanted a free ride on the train, and could only do
so from the roof.
The arraignment of Titilayo Momoh is
however a serious matter. If she goes to trial, she could in fact be
convicted, since hers is a clearly straightforward case. She had
confessed with her own mouth that she wanted to die because she had too
many financial debts to pay, a Bureau de Change also swindled her, she
sought help from everywhere, including her church but nobody was willing
to help her, and so, she decided to end it all. When she was rescued
from jumping into the Lagoon, everyone sympathized with her. She
suddenly got the help that society had previously denied her. She
returned to her textile shop, and was beginning to pick up the pieces of
her life again, only for the police to invoke the law and take her to
court.
Her arraignment exposes the problems
with the law. She now probably wishes she had actually committed
suicide. The legal matter she is now battling with, could throw her into
even greater debt: paying lawyers, sorting out logistics, and as the
wheel of law still grinds slowly, she could experience worse depression.
The same travails that drove her to the edge of the cliff have not been
made any lighter. The other thing to note is that the relevant statutes
in gender terms refer to “himself”. Can we possibly interpret the law
strictly and literally and insist that the law on suicide only has the
male gender in mind? So why is Titilayo, “herself”, being charged when
the law says “himself”? I know what the canons of the rule of
interpretation say, and how gender-insensitive the phrasing of the law
is, so, may be I need not stretch this further. But another reasonable
response by a common man to the Titilayo Momoh case would be to ask why
she is the only one being targeted.
In the first quarter of 2017 alone,
there were more attempted suicide and suicide cases than there were in
the whole of 2016, and the figures keep increasing. Ms Momoh was rescued
the same week alongside one Abigail Ogunyinka, who actually jumped into
the Lagoon and was fished out by divers. In Mazamaza another woman,
Emerald, was also rescued after she had jumped. Much earlier, Tiwa
Savage’s husband, Tee Billz, was dissuaded by friends and concerned
persons from jumping into the Lagoon. There have also been persons who
succeeded in their suicide efforts and can no longer be reached by the
long arms of the arm. There was Dr Allwell Oji, and reported cases from
Ogun state (25), Ebonyi (10), Delta (4), Oyo (4), Kano (6), the latest
case being that of a University of Lagos young undergraduate who killed
herself after she was accused of stealing make up kit worth N2, 000 (the
current equivalent of $5 or $6!).
The court of law is not under any strict
obligation to embark on a hunting expedition for cases by itself and it
is no defence in law to play the victim by asking why the neighbor who
committed the same offence has not been charged to court: the court
deals only with what is duly brought before it. But even if there is a
case to answer, Ms Momoh, the accused in the present case is likely to
wonder why she is the only special target for litigation. Research on
para-suicide informs us that persons who failed in the first attempt are
at a high risk of a second attempt. By seeking to put failed suicide
attempters to trial, is government encouraging all such persons to
succeed by all means? The shaming and trial of such persons may even
drive them underground, away from public places where the attempt may be
noticed and stopped.
It is partly for this and other reasons,
principally the recognition that persons who attempt suicide need help
rather than vilification, and that prevention is better than cure, that
many countries of the world have de-criminalized suicide attempts. The
latest country to do so is India. In 1961, the British who offered us
the common law origin of our own law on suicide attempts de-criminalized
non-fatal suicidal behaviour. Other countries where suicide attempt is
no longer a crime include Egypt, Botswana, Cameroon, Angola, South
Africa, Eritrea, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The World Health Organization recognizes
depression as the leading cause of suicide in the world. Globally, more
than 300 million people are suffering from depression and related
disability. The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has also disclosed
that 90% of reported suicide cases in Nigeria are traceable to
depression. At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, 10% of all
referrals are attempted suicides. This year, WHO chose as the theme for
the World Health Day on April 7: “Depression, let’s talk”. Persons
suffering from depression are advised and encouraged to talk about their
problems within the community and seek help from existing institutions
and from professional counselors including psychologists, psychiatrists,
mental hospitals and sociologists. Depression is a form of mental
psychosis, attributed to such existential issues as drug abuse, alcohol
abuse, sadness, low self-esteem, poverty, marital crisis, indebtedness,
loss of a loved one, and so on.
In Nigeria and other African countries
where mental ill-health is regarded as lunacy simpliciter, most persons
who are depressed find it difficult to talk about it. Any form of mental
ill-health in Nigeria is still covered by the colonial law, called the
Lunacy Act, 1958. That law dehumanizes anybody that requires mental
healthcare. A Mental Health Policy 1991 has tried to state the basic
principles in line with international conventions, but the Act of 1958
remains the enabling law. Since 2003, three attempts have been made to
introduce a Mental Health Bill, but each time it was tabled, the
National Assembly did not consider it important enough.
Further, there are just about eight
mental health hospitals in Nigeria, some psychiatric units in major
hospitals, and less than 150 professional psychiatrists to a population
of nearly 200 million. Similarly there are no enough psychiatric nurses
or professional counselors. Out of the few psychiatrists we have in the
country, some have since left the profession to go into politics. The
hospitals are poorly staffed, poorly equipped and poorly referenced in
popular culture and conversation. And at the few mental hospitals that
we even have, those who are expected to help other people are busy
fighting among themselves – the internal politics at the
Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Uselu, Benin City for example is worse
than the politics of Nigeria! As it were, anybody who is depressed in
Nigeria is at the risk of suicide. “Lunacy” is a taboo subject, and yet
the people face more problems daily that require mental health
counseling.
The sudden increase in attempted suicide
cases in our country should provide the needed impetus for review and
introspection, not the vilification of persons who are already society’s
victims. It is even surprising that The Lagos State Police Command will
choose to scapegoat Titilayo Momoh and take her to court. In 2016, Ms
Dolapo Badmos, the Lagos State Police PRO (as she then was) had
announced that the police was not interested in taking any person who
attempted suicide to court out of the recognition that such persons
needed help. In line with this, the Lagos Police Command set up a
special unit to patrol the bridges in Lagos, to prevent people from
jumping into the rivers.
The Lagos State Government also set up
an Aquatic Rescue Unit, and it is this unit that helped in rescuing at
least two reported cases between January and March 2017. Two hotlines
have also since been announced to assist persons in need of urgent help
(08062106493, 08092106493). Is it likely that the Lagos State Government
in collaboration with the police, and civil society groups has taken
these preventive and emergency rescue steps in order to capture persons
who attempt suicide so the courts can have cases to handle? If true, it
is ill-advised because this will neither reduce cases of suicide, nor
prevent people from committing suicide. Governments at all levels should
“talk about depression” and help the people – through good governance –
to reduce the number of people seeking to die at the slightest
emotional provocation.
Titilayo Momoh’s place is not in the
courtroom. She should be set free and assisted. The extant laws on
attempted suicide should be revised. Parasuicide should be
de-criminalized and de-penalized. I do not include in this appeal
however, all such attempted suicides related to terrorism or incidental
to other expressly criminal activities.
Dr. Reuben Abati
was spokesperson and special adviser, media and publicity to President
Goodluck Jonathan (2011 – 2015). He tweets from @abati1990.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer.
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