Village head commits suicide 4 days to daughter’s wedding

ABA—The immediate family and relations of Chief Samuel Omeonu Ezengwa, a village head in Umunkita, Nenu Autonomous Community in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, have been thrown into shock after the head of the family and a village head in the community allegedly committed suicide by hanging four days to the daughter’s traditional wedding.

A source in the area said the body of the village head was discovered hanging on a tree at about 7am Wednesday by a member of his family who had gone out that morning.

Though it was not known his reasons for committing suicide, Vanguard gathered that the incident has put on hold the deceased daughter’s traditional marriage billed to hold on Sunday, August 3.

A family source said the night before the unfortunate incident, he had had an intensive discussion with the deceased over his daughter’s traditional marriage coming up at the weekend, adding that the deceased never showed any sign of depression which had been attributed as a major cause of the incident.

Sources said on hearing of the incident, the Eastern Ngwa Police Division drafted their men to the area where they had a close session with the immediate family and later left the compound with the man’s body still hanging on the tree.

A villager who spoke on anonymity, said the body of the deceased could only be brought down for burial after some rituals had been performed as demanded by their custom, describing the state of the man’s death as one of the things that “is highly” prohibited by their traditional belief.

Members of the family were said to have been in deep shock over the incident and could not speak publicly on the issue.

Some reports, which were yet to be verified at press time, have it that the victim committed suicide after the community had written the family inviting them to explain what they knew about an alleged financial embezzlement on an electrification project in the community, an amount some said would be too much for them to repay.

Efforts to reach the state Police Public Relations Officer failed as he did not pick calls pull through his phone but a reliable police source confirmed the incident.