A POS operator in the Adamawa State capital, Yola, Umar Usman, drank a locally made insecticide on Monday in a move to kill himself over a N1.7m debt.
Umar, who is from Yola South LGA, made the suicide attempt by drinking the local stuff called Otapiapia, at the Upper Area Court I in Yola where he was arraigned following a criminal complaint by his friend, Mustapha Baraya, over the money.
His friend, of the same community, sued him earlier this year, February 13, on charge of ‘criminal misappropriation and breach of trust’.
The history of the case has it that Baraya gave Umar N1.9 million to operate a POS business but he ‘misappropriated the money’, and refunded only N150,000.
Efforts by the complainant to recover the remaining N1.760m balance was not successful as Umar and his father kept deceiving him even after a judgment was delivered by the court.
The court had in the course of the case ordered him to refund the money, giving him one month within which to do so, but he failed.
He and his father told the court they had a rice farm which was ready for harvest, and that after the harvest they would refund the money, but they secretly harvested the crop without refunding the money.
The court then ordered that Umar’s house which was given to him by his father be disposed of.
Apparently dissatisfied with the order, Usman brought a bottle of the Otapiapia to the court at its sitting Monday, entered the Chamber of the Judge, Hon. Shehu Mustapha and emptied the substance in his mouth.
He fell down instantly, started vomiting and became unconscious, and was rushed to the hospital.
The police are yet to make an official statement on the incident.
