Growing cases of Bouazizi syndrome

To some, he had written his name in gold while to others, Muhammad Bouazizi of Tunisia had written it in the darkest kind of charcoal. Depending on the ideological divide they belong to, this young man, whose self-immolation triggered the phenomenal Arab Spring four years ago, certainly evokes different emotions in different people. Millions in […]

To some, he had written his name in gold while to others, Muhammad Bouazizi of Tunisia had written it in the darkest kind of charcoal.
Depending on the ideological divide they belong to, this young man, whose self-immolation triggered the phenomenal Arab Spring four years ago, certainly evokes different emotions in different people. Millions in the Arab world had hailed him as a hero, because his suicide led to a chain of reactions that ended decades of despotic rules and dictatorships.
But there are also millions around the world who felt his suicide was a sinful act, the result of a weak faith which led him to take his own life rather than face life’s frustrations and conquer them. Yet whatever we, in Nigeria, feel about Bouazizi’s suicide, it is obvious that a growing number of our compatriots are borrowing a leaf from his unfortunate end. And I am not talking about the dreadful suicide bombings which are being staged as part of the insurgency, because those are not spontaneous but orchestrated mysterious evil which we must deploy all necessary resources to unravel.
Here, I am talking about the individual suicides that are occurring with shocking regularity around the country. Both our newspapers and radios now frequently report cases of men of all ages taking their own lives for one reason or another. Without a doubt, the most shocking one I heard was the case of 78-year-old Hassan Ciroma of Kano, who was said to have taken a knife and slit his throat at an abattoir, thereby killing himself. Like the report said, tongues were wagging on what could instigate an old man like that to take his own life.
A man or woman who lived to be 78 is very likely a grandparent or even a great-grand parent. At that age one is thought to have seen it all, and the expectation is that one can handle any of life’s trials with maturity and resignation to the will of Almighty God. Yet Hassan Ciroma saw no end to his plight but through a slit throat.
Though the police in Kano had suspected foul play and ordered investigation into the suicide, those who had seen old man Hassan at the market earlier, had witnessed him buying a knife from the blacksmith shop. Then eyewitnesses at the abattoir section, saw him brandishing a knife and thought he was one of the butchers, it was when he turned the knife on himself and slit his throat that people began to scream and run away. According to the report, a pandemonium ensued because people were too terrified to render assistance to him, they fled instead.
While the mystery surrounding why a septuagenarian should kill himself was still unsolved, then came the news that another ‘old man,’ 67-year-old Usmanu Umaru of Kofar Dindi in Kebbi state, had attempted to take his life by cutting off his manhood. According to his relatives, he had been sick and confined to his room when the incident happened. His wife raised an alarm when she saw him in a pool of his blood after he had tried his ‘deadly circumcision’ and he was rushed to hospital where they battled to save his life because he had lost a lot of blood.
Usmanu Umaru’s nephew who confirmed that he was receiving treatment at the federal medical centre Birnin Kebbi disclosed that his uncle was in a coma and needed N37,000 for surgery. And this was a man who was said to have tried to end his life because he was ‘poverty stricken.’
Then there are the several stories of young men ending their lives by hanging or taking toxic substances for frivolous reasons. The young man who took poison to end his life, in an Abuja suburb, left a note saying that his mother was always criticizing him, so he decided to go away for good since he couldn’t please her. The case of a 22-year old man in Kaduna south who killed himself after a quarrel with his father is the most recent case of the Bouazizi syndrome afflicting our nation.
Reuben James who hailed from Gombe state, was said to have gone to his sisters at Sabon Tasha area to complain that he had a quarrel with their father, who then sent him packing from their Air Force Base home, after seizing his clothes and threatening to hand him over to the police. The next thing was, he was found hanging in front of a shop belonging to one Kennedy Abhuru.
The unfortunate personal problems that drive people to take their own lives are real and can be very daunting, but they are not insurmountable. And those committing suicide are certainly not the only ones with such problems. It’s just that such people take the cowardly way out because they have convinced themselves their problems will end when they die. I don’t know about other religions and cultures but in Islam committing suicide is a sin that deprives the perpetrator of Allah’s mercy in the hereafter. So the Muslim who commits suicide does not end his problem but actually starts it, because in the next world, which last forever, he will have no taste of Almighty Allah’s mercy. Therefore, our clerics must rise up to this growing menace of men taking their own lives by preaching hard about the implications of such an act.
Whether young or old the potential Bouazizi must be told to face up to his life’s problems by confronting them and hoping for the best, because life is full of trials and tribulations and almost everyone you see is undergoing his personal struggles. Whether in mosques or churches, it is our sincerely hope that our clergymen will make it a point to regularly deliver sermons against suicide; and in favour of perseverance and developing a positive mental attitude to life.