Edward Soje, a civil servant in the employ of Kogi State Government committed suicide about ten days after his wife was delivered of a set of male triplets.
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Fifty-four year-old Soje was a Grade Level 16 officer in the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and his wife, a federal civil servant.
The pair had been married for 17 years without having a child until recently when the wife gave birth to the triplets.
Mr. Soje, according to sources, received the arrival of the new additions to his family with mixed-feelings.
On one hand, he was reportedly happy because he had children to call his own but on the other hand, he was gloomy due to his deplorable financial condition occasioned by the non-payment of his salaries for eleven months.
“You know most civil servants in the state are being owed eleven months salary arrears. In fact we are all a walking corpse. Soje’s financial woes led him to suicide. His financial obligation to his family skyrocketed when his wife put to bed and because he could not measure up he became depressed,” sources said.
“He sold his car and a yet-to-be completed three-bedroom bungalow where he lived at the Otokiti area of Lokoja for N1.5 million in April, to meet pressing family needs.
“And his wife gave birth to the triplets on October 7 at a private hospital in Abuja through caesarean. He was with them at the hospital till October 13, a day before their naming ceremony, when he returned to Lokoja.
“On his return to Lokoja, he went to his bank, to withdraw the N30,000 balance in his account, and notified the bank in writing, of his decision to close the account.
“He late returned to the hospital, and handed over the N30,000 to the wife, and left the hospital with the excuse that he wanted to pick some things from the wife’s apartment in Abuja with a promise to come back quickly,” family sources narrated.
But on October 16, his body was found hanging from a tree behind the mammy market at the Maigumeri Barracks, housing the Nigeria Army Command Record.
It was further gathered that the deceased left a suicide note for his widow, which reads, “Psalm 121:3: God will not suffer your foot to be moved: He that keepeth you will not slumber. Amen. You and the three boys, God Almighty keep you and make you prosperous. Amen. I love you.”
