News
‘Why I Tried To Kill My Mother’
Strong indications have emerged from medical doctors and pastors on the proper mental health of a 27-year-old jobless graduate who attempted to slash open the throat of his 50-year-old mother on the allegation that she possessed witchcraft. There is a consensus that the man may be mentally ill due to stress and other social factors.
It will be recalled that the young man simply identified as Nnamdi Mokoye made frantic efforts to murder his mother based on the prophecy and revelation of his church pastor that his mother who divorced his father 21 years ago is the evil architect of all the unexplainable series of woes and calamities that his family has been experiencing for years, which had hitherto defied remedy till date.
However, a few hours to the New Year, he reasoned within himself that it would be suicidal to start the year 2010 in the same harrowing condition he had been facing. Hence, be set out from the house of one of his friends whom he had been staving with to Ajangbadi-Sibiri, Okokomaiko, an outskirt of Ojo Local Government of Lagos State to confirm from his mother why she intentionally bewitched all her children including him to the point that all her seven children are wallowing in peculiar calamities, six out of her seven children are jobless while the only one who is gainfully employed has no settled home as her husband threw her out of his house without any known cause despite all entreaties from family members.
One thing led to the other, and before neighbours could get wind of what was happening, Mrs Abigail Nwaje, Nnamdi’s mother, had already been brutally butchered having been mercilessly lacerated on the throat with all her teeth pulled out with a hammer. The suspect who has been charged to court for attempted murder revealed to reporters at the information unit of the Lagos State police command why he was bent on murdering his mother a few hours to 201O.
Nnamdi, who was finding it difficult to utter words, stated that having experienced frustration, agony and unexplainable ill-luck for almost three decades, he started going to ‘churches for deliverance’ and it was in the process that he and his older sister who was sent packing out of her matrimonial home by her husband for no just cause were told that their mother was the brain behind their suffering and hardship.
Reacting to the strange behaviour of the young man, Dr Kalu Isaiah of the Department of Psychiatry, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) maintained that there is a big probability that Nnamdi is suffering from mental illness.
According to Kalu, “Merely raising hands to beat one’s mother is bad enough, and for one to have taken a knife and slashed one’s mother’s throat shows that the person is mentally ill or was mentally ill at the time he committed the offence. There is something we call delusion in psychiatry, which is a false fixed belief.
“The young man would have been convinced beyond reasonable doubt that his mother was behind his retarded progress and that of his siblings too. That act in essence defies logic and reality. It is beyond the boundary of normal behaviour. There is likelihood that the young man is suffering from paranoid delusion. “Believing strongly that somebody is against him and wants to harm him. It happens, but people don’t do such things. Ordinarily, what happens is that people may not talk to the person again or abandon the person,” he said.
On factors that might have generated into mental illness for the jobless graduate, Kalu revealed that there are a lot of things that could have resulted into mental illness for a jobless graduate. He also opined that it could be hereditary. “There could be a form of genetic disposition transferred from parents to the offspring. That does not mean that anyone whose parents have that must compulsorily also have it,” he said.
Pastor Oluwasegun of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, Igando branch, speaking on the ugly development, corroborated what Dr Kalu said that no pastor would have told the young man to go and kill his mother for any reason. According to him, witchcraft is an evil spirit which one can be delivered from.
“It is very unbelievable in this age to hear such a thing, especially from a well-educated young man. Nnamdi Mokoye’s revelation that he was told severally by his pastor that his mother is the evil architect of all the unexplainable series of woes and calamities that his family has been experiencing for years which had defied remedy till date is highly questionable,” he said.
Furthermore, the Lagos State Police Command spokesman, Frank Mba, revealed that the suspect has already been charged to court for attempted murder and that his mother is responding well to treatment at the hospital.
Mokoye’s is the second case of attempted murder bordering on witchcraft allegation since last year in Lagos. One Olubukula in a similar vein murdered her mother mid-last year because she alleged that the latter was a witch who was behind, all her woes in the United States of America.
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has alerted Nigerians on the ban on Dex Luxury Bar Soap (No 6 Mystic Flower), by the European Union (EU).
The notification is contained in a public alert with No. 012/2024, signed by NAFDAC Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, and issued to newsmen in Abuja yesterday.
“The product does not comply with the cosmetic products regulation; it also contains Butyphenyl Methylpropional (BMHCA), which is prohibited in cosmetic products due to its risk of harming the reproductive system.
“It also causes harm to the health of unborn children and may cause skin sensitisation.
“It is as a result of the defective nature of the product that the EU banned it.
“The products is not in NAFDAC database; importers, distributors, retailers and consumers are to exercise caution and vigilance within the supply chain,” she said.
NAFDAC boss urged marketers and consumers to avoid the importation, distribution, sale and use of the product, stressing that product’s authenticity and physical condition must be carefully checked.
She enjoined members of the public in possession of the product to discontinue sale or use, and submit stock to the nearest NAFDAC office.
The Country Manager of the British Red Cross in Nigeria, Karsten Voigt, says communities and volunteers are ready to face the challenges expected with the upcoming floods.
Voigt said this at the sidelines of the 56th Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), Lagos Branch.
The Tide’s source recalls that the British Red Cross donated resilience items to some communities in December 2023, to help mitigate the effects of flooding.
The items included cash, rain boots, rain coats, mosquito nets, handheld flashlights, solar powered lights with radio, USB chargers and a bridge to link the communities.
The communities that benefited included Agboyi 1, Agboyi 2, Agboyi 3 and Odo Ogun in Kosofe Local Government Area of the state.
Voigt said the Red Cross had measured the impact of the project in the communities and noticed that a lot of progress had been made.
According to him, apart from the cash and items given to the communities, simulation exercises have also been carried out to prepare the volunteers ahead of the floods.
“We have seen that people used the cash to address immediate needs they have after floods.
“Many households have used part of the cash to build up businesses.
“The solutions we have given to them are not only addressing their immediate needs after the disaster but actually building family income for their future,” he said.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted sunshine and thunderstorm from Monday to Wednesday across the country.
NiMet’s weather outlook released yesterday in Abuja, forecasts sunny skies on Monday with a few patches of cloud over the northern cities and prospects of thunderstorms over parts of Taraba later in the day.
According to the forecast, sunny skies with patches of clouds are expected over the North Central region with prospects of morning thunderstorm over parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa, Kogi and Kwara States.
“Later in the day, isolated thunderstorms are anticipated over parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Kogi and Benue States.
“The southern region is expected to be cloudy with spells of sunshine with prospects of morning thunderstorms over parts of Oyo, Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo and Lagos States.
“ In the afternoon/evening periods, isolated thunderstorms are expected over parts of Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Ekiti, Ogun, Imo, Oyo, Ondo, Edo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers, Lagos and Bayelsa States,” it said.
NiMet also anticipated sunny skies on Tuesday with few patches of cloud over the northern states with prospects of isolated thunderstorms envisaged over parts of Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba and Kaduna States during the afternoon and evening hours.
It envisaged the North Central region to be sunny with patches of cloud during the morning hours.
The agency also envisaged isolated thunderstorms over parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi, Benue, Kwara and Niger States, later in the day.
“Cloudy atmosphere with intervals of sunshine is expected over the inland and coastal areas of the South, with chances of morning thunderstorm over parts of Cross River, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Rivers States.
“In the afternoon/evening periods, isolated thunderstorms are anticipated over parts of Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Oyo, Edo, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Rivers and Bayelsa States ,” it said.
It predicted a sunny atmosphere on Wednesday, with patches of cloud over the northern region, during the forecast period.
“Sunny skies with patches of clouds are expected over the North Central region with chances of isolated thunderstorms over parts of Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa, the Federal Capital Territory and Benue States, during the afternoon/evening periods.
“ Cloudy atmosphere with intervals of sunshine is expected over the inland and coastal areas of the South with prospects of thunderstorms over parts of Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia.”
Other states to experience cloudy atmosphere, are “Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States, later in the day.”
NiMet urged the public to take adequate precaution as strong winds might precede rains in areas where thunderstorms were likely to occur.
The agency also urged airline operators to get updated weather reports and forecasts from its office for effective planning in their operations.
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