An official steward to Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima has committed suicide at the Goverment House on Maiduguri.
The steward identified as John Achagwa hanged himself on a Neem tree at the back of the Presidential Lodge, Government House on Tuesday afternoon, May 28, according to Legit.
It is not yet clear why the man decided to take his life but his colleagues who spoke to our reporter said he had maintained unusual quietness since he resumed work today.
“He didn’t utter a word since morning. He just kept to himself. We were together till about 2pm until he suddenly disappeared,” one of his colleagues who asked not to be named said. Men of the state fire service and security personnel were immediately mobilised to the scene of the incident to bring down the victim from the tree. It was the first time such incident would occur in the state House.
Admitting that there are minimal cases of violence and attack by insurgents in Borno, Shettima said that in other states, the level of crime is yet unabated.
He lamented that Boko Haram terrorists are given more publicity than Nigerian security agencies. Shettima said: “The military and other security agencies are doing their best in Borno state, the only problem now is the inadequate publicity accorded to our military operations.
“For example, when Boko Haram attacks and kill even one person, it will be celebrated on the front page of our newspapers, but when military kill dozens of insurgents and capture several others alive, such success against the insurgents will be published in a tight corner of our newspapers.
“Our Military is now overwhelmed with the increasing security challenges in some parts of the country, there is the deployment of soldiers in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, and many volatile states of the federation despite paucity of funds and inadequate personnel.
“Presently, Borno is safer than Abuja, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and other volatile states of the federation. This is because in Borno, we don’t have cases of kidnapping, banditry as obtained in other states mentioned earlier.”
