On March 24,
one Ms Taiwo Titilayo Momoh, attempted suicide at the Third Mainland
Bridge, Lagos. Both the police and concerned citizens rescued her from
killing herself. The said Ms Momoh was arraigned on April 21, at the
Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate Court on a one-count charge to wit: “That
you, Titilayo Momoh on the 24th
day of March 2017 at about 10.00 hours at the Third Mainland Bridge,
Lagos did attempt to commit suicide by jumping into the river and
thereby committed an offence under Section 235 C.17, Vol. 3 of the
Criminal law of Lagos State 2015.”
The accused
person has since been granted bail in the sum of N500, 000, with two
sureties in like sum. She is also required to undergo psychiatric
evaluation. Her case has been adjourned till June 2017.
The
Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State is hereby
invited to take special notice of this case and to enter a nolle prosequi to ensure its discontinuance. The exercise of the power of nolle prosequi
as spelled out in Sections 174(1) and 211 of the 1999 Constitution has
been a subject of much debate. This is in spite of the Supreme Court’s
position in The State vs Ilori,
due to the tendency of some AGs to abuse such powers. But there is not a
scintilla of doubt in my mind that by discontinuing the Titilayo Momoh
case, the AG Lagos would have acted “in the public interest, the
interests of justice and the need to prevent the abuse of legal
process.” I state this with due regard to the right of the court to be
seized of the matter in question, attempted suicide being an offence in
the statutes. The key issue, nonetheless, is that there are related
matters of public interest, beyond legalism.
Section 235
of the Criminal Law of Lagos State under which Ms Titilayo Momoh has
been charged for non-fatal suicidal behaviour is in pari materia with
Section 326 and 327 of the Penal Code and Criminal Codes respectively.
The Criminal Code states expressly: “Any person who attempts to kill
himself is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable to imprisonment for
one year.” Thus in letter and spirit, the extant law on pari-suicide in
Nigeria criminalizes the act. The only problem is that the law sounds
like the law that is applied to the act of coup making.
If you plot a
coup and you succeed, you get away with it, but if you make the mistake
of failing, you find yourself in very serious trouble. The extant law
on suicide deals with you if you fail, but the same law is helpless if
you succeed. The only difference is that whereas a coup is an act of
treason against the state, suicide is a coup against the self.
Government exists because there is a society composed of people, living
people who are happy to be alive and contribute their own quota to
society. When people begin to kill themselves at will, and at the
slightest provocation, the responsibility of government should be to
inquire into the causes of such demolition of the right to life, and
therefore make amends - so the cause of being-ness and the welfare of
the people can be better addressed.
For this
reason, the Nigerian legislature, including the State Houses of
Assembly, should take a second look at the extant law on attempted
suicide. In truth, the law has been rarely applied, the last publicized
application being the case instituted against certain persons by the
Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) in 2013, persons who had formed the
habit of travelling on the rooftop of trains, instead of buying tickets
and taking proper seats. The NRC took some of those persons to court for
attempting suicide. They ended up getting a slap on the wrist, they
were asked to pay fines. It must have been obvious to the court that
these were not suicidal cases, but persons who just wanted a free ride
on the train, and could only do so from the roof.
The
arraignment of Titilayo Momoh is however a serious matter. If she goes
to trial, she could in fact be convicted, since hers is a clearly
straightforward case. She had confessed with her own mouth that she
wanted to die because she had too many financial debts to pay, a Bureau
de Change also swindled her, she sought help from everywhere, including
her church but nobody was willing to help her, and so, she decided to
end it all. When she was rescued from jumping into the Lagoon, everyone
sympathized with her. She suddenly got the help that society had
previously denied her. She returned to her textile shop, and was
beginning to pick up the pieces of her life again, only for the police
to invoke the law and take her to court.
Her
arraignment exposes the problems with the law. She now probably wishes
she had actually committed suicide. The legal matter she is now battling
with, could throw her into even greater debt: paying lawyers, sorting
out logistics, and as the wheel of law still grinds slowly, she could
experience worse depression. The same travails that drove her to the
edge of the cliff have not been made any lighter. The other thing to
note is that the relevant statutes in gender terms refer to “himself”.
Can we possibly interpret the law strictly and literally and insist that
the law on suicide only has the male gender in mind? So why is
Titilayo, “herself”, being charged when the law says “himself”? I know
what the canons of the rule of interpretation say, and how
gender-insensitive the phrasing of the law is, so, may be I need not
stretch this further. But another reasonable response by a common man to
the Titilayo Momoh case would be to ask why she is the only one being
targeted.
In the
first quarter of 2017 alone, there were more attempted suicide and
suicide cases than there were in the whole of 2016, and the figures keep
increasing. Ms Momoh was rescued the same week alongside one Abigail
Ogunyinka, who actually jumped into the Lagoon and was fished out by
divers. In Mazamaza another woman, Emerald, was also rescued after she
had jumped. Much earlier, Tiwa Savage’s husband, Tee Billz, was
dissuaded by friends and concerned persons from jumping into the
Lagoon. There have also been persons who succeeded in their suicide
efforts and can no longer be reached by the long arms of the arm. There
was Dr Allwell Oji, and reported cases from Ogun state (25), Ebonyi
(10), Delta (4), Oyo (4), Kano (6), the latest case being that of a
University of Lagos young undergraduate who killed herself after she was
accused of stealing make up kit worth N2, 000 (the current equivalent
of $5 or $6!).
The court
of law is not under any strict obligation to embark on a hunting
expedition for cases by itself and it is no defence in law to play the
victim by asking why the neighbor who committed the same offence has not
been charged to court: the court deals only with what is duly brought
before it. But even if there is a case to answer, Ms Momoh, the accused
in the present case is likely to wonder why she is the only special
target for litigation. Research on para-suicide informs us that persons
who failed in the first attempt are at a high risk of a second attempt.
By seeking to put failed suicide attempters to trial, is government
encouraging all such persons to succeed by all means? The shaming and
trial of such persons may even drive them underground, away from public
places where the attempt may be noticed and stopped.
It is
partly for this and other reasons, principally the recognition that
persons who attempt suicide need help rather than vilification, and that
prevention is better than cure, that many countries of the world have
de-criminalized suicide attempts. The latest country to do so is India.
In 1961, the British who offered us the common law origin of our own law
on suicide attempts de-criminalized non-fatal suicidal behaviour.
Other countries where suicide attempt is no longer a crime include
Egypt, Botswana, Cameroon, Angola, South Africa, Eritrea, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
The World
Health Organization recognizes depression as the leading cause of
suicide in the world. Globally, more than 300 million people are
suffering from depression and related disability. The Nigeria Medical
Association (NMA) has also disclosed that 90% of reported suicide cases
in Nigeria are traceable to depression. At the Lagos University Teaching
Hospital, 10% of all referrals are attempted suicides. This year, WHO
chose as the theme for the World Health Day on April 7: “Depression,
let’s talk”. Persons suffering from depression are advised and
encouraged to talk about their problems within the community and seek
help from existing institutions and from professional counselors
including psychologists, psychiatrists, mental hospitals and
sociologists. Depression is a form of mental psychosis, attributed to
such existential issues as drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sadness, low
self-esteem, poverty, marital crisis, indebtedness, loss of a loved one,
and so on.
In
Nigeria and other African countries where mental ill-health is regarded
as lunacy simpliciter, most persons who are depressed find it difficult
to talk about it. Any form of mental ill-health in Nigeria is still
covered by the colonial law, called the Lunacy Act, 1958. That law
dehumanizes anybody that requires mental healthcare. A Mental Health
Policy 1991 has tried to state the basic principles in line with
international conventions, but the Act of 1958 remains the enabling law.
Since 2003, three attempts have been made to introduce a Mental Health
Bill, but each time it was tabled, the National Assembly did not
consider it important enough.
Further,
there are just about eight mental health hospitals in Nigeria, some
psychiatric units in major hospitals, and less than 150 professional
psychiatrists to a population of nearly 200 million. Similarly there are
no enough psychiatric nurses or professional counselors. Out of the few
psychiatrists we have in the country, some have since left the
profession to go into politics. The hospitals are poorly staffed,
poorly equipped and poorly referenced in popular culture and
conversation. And at the few mental hospitals that we even have, those
who are expected to help other people are busy fighting among themselves
- the internal politics at the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Uselu,
Benin City for example is worse than the politics of Nigeria! As it
were, anybody who is depressed in Nigeria is at the risk of suicide.
“Lunacy” is a taboo subject, and yet the people face more problems daily
that require mental health counseling.
The sudden
increase in attempted suicide cases in our country should provide the
needed impetus for review and introspection, not the vilification of
persons who are already society’s victims. It is even surprising that
The Lagos State Police Command will choose to scapegoat Titilayo Momoh
and take her to court. In 2016, Ms Dolapo Badmos, the Lagos State
Police PRO (as she then was) had announced that the police was not
interested in taking any person who attempted suicide to court out of
the recognition that such persons needed help. In line with this, the
Lagos Police Command set up a special unit to patrol the bridges in
Lagos, to prevent people from jumping into the rivers.
The Lagos
State Government also set up an Aquatic Rescue Unit, and it is this unit
that helped in rescuing at least two reported cases between January and
March 2017. Two hotlines have also since been announced to assist
persons in need of urgent help (08062106493, 08092106493). Is it likely
that the Lagos State Government in collaboration with the police, and
civil society groups has taken these preventive and emergency rescue
steps in order to capture persons who attempt suicide so the courts can
have cases to handle? If true, it is ill-advised because this will
neither reduce cases of suicide, nor prevent people from committing
suicide. Governments at all levels should “talk about depression” and
help the people - through good governance - to reduce the number of
people seeking to die at the slightest emotional provocation.
Titilayo
Momoh’s place is not in the court-room. She should be set free and
assisted. The extant laws on attempted suicide should be revised.
Para-suicide should be de-criminalized and de-penalized. I do not
include in this appeal however, all such attempted suicides related to
terrorism or incidental to other expressly criminal activities.
No comments:
Post a Comment