A middle age man, John Achagwa, who is the chief steward at the Presidential lodge, Government House Maiduguri, Borno State, has committed suicide.
He was found dead hanging by the branch of a tree.
AljazirahNigeria learned that no one could yet say why he took his own life But his colleagues at work said he was seen wearing moody looks all through the morning till afternoon when he suddenly disappeared.
Another colleague who would not want to be named told AljazirahNigeria that “he was not in good mood throughout the day and at a point, he even asked him to help delete a particular number off his phone because he couldn’t do it.
He said: “He was with us till about 1.30 p.m. When we went for prayer and came back, we couldn’t find him. We thought he stepped out. But later someone called our attention that a man was hanging by his neck at the back of the lodge.”
According to those who knew him well, they said he had retired about three years ago but was retained by the state government due to his exceptional cooking skills.
One of his former colleagues said Mr Achagwa, who was very popular within the Government House, had served almost all
governors that ruled in Borno state.
In a statement by Mallam Isa Gusau, on behalf of the Borno government, made available to AljazirahNigeria, in Maiduguri, said Gov Shettima was shocked and has been wondering what kind of depression could push John, who was generally known to live comfortably, resort to taking his own life.
The statement added that Gov Kashim is deeply shocked by the unfortunate incident especially given the fact that John who looked in mid 60s was publicly known to be one of the Governor’s favourites as he served important guests at the Presidential lodge for more than 30 years.
He said, When John retired from civil service, Governor Shettima had requested that he be retained as casual staff because of his good services and the confidence in him.
The Governor even supported John with personal funds with which he used in completing his beautiful house at a good location in Maiduguri.
John also had a car to himself and he lived very comfortably.
The Governor has since directed the Commissioner of Police to ensure thorough investigation including carrying out a post mortem on his corpse and digging questions everywhere to establish what pushed him to take his own life” the statement.
The Borno state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Aliyu, was confirmed the accident to newsmen in Maiduguri the Borno state capital, said earlier at the scene of the incident, which was a garden around the Presidential lodge where John worked.
Mr Aliyu said that the preliminary investigations, John lived a comfortable life but the police was determined to take investigations to his family to establish possible causes of depression.
