21-yr-old dad jumps off Epe bridge after receiving father’s blessing

A 21- year old father plunged into a lagoon at Epe, Lagos, on Tuesday, after asking his father for blessing, and urging his girlfriend to take care of their one-year-old child.

The news first trended on social media in a video where Odunare Olalekan perched on the rail of the Berger Bridge at Epe.

More detail of the suicide surfaced on Wednesday

According to reports, his brother saw the video, and then alerted their parents—not to bother looking for Olalekan.

The young father had been showing signs of frustration days to the incident.

“For some time now, Olalekan has been acting strangely. For more than a week, he couldn’t sleep. He just woke up yesterday (Tuesday) to say he was going. They asked him, ‘going where?” the Daily Trust quoted a family source.

“They tried to hold him but he overpowered the people around because he was very powerful, maybe it was a spiritual attack. We could not ascertain that. He just woke up and said he was going and that they should pray for him. They held him but he overpowered them and went straight to his girlfriend’s house to tell her to take care of his child, because they might not see each other again.”

The she headed for the location.

Motorists driving by saw him, and informed the passer-by who recorded the video first.

Recording seemed easier at that point because the recorder was far from the suicide. But he made effort to talk Olalekan off the ledge, as the audio revealed a voice asking, “Why do you want to do this?”

Aside from that, only a stronger person than Olalekan could wrestle him off the edge then. And he had to be a swimmer, too.

Since the incident, the remains of Olalekan have not floated almost two days after he dived into the hyacinth-infested lagoon.