A lottery agent, identified simply as Baba Pool, Thursday, committed suicide following his alleged inability to pay some of his customers their winnings.
It was gathered that the Baba Pool hung himself in his shop in the Sabo area of Lagos State.The deceased, in a suicide note, blamed two people for his death.
He wrote, “For your information, Bourney and Osuma. Two of them kill me. A killer must surely die.”
Baba Pool had posted the note at three strategic places in the shop before he took his own life.
According to the Iyaloja of the market, Ms. Aderemi Thomas, the accused persons played lottery in the deceased’s shop, but after winning, they could not get their money.
She said, “I was called around 8am to come to the market because Baba Pool had committed suicide. I called the owner of the shop to join me in the market, but he said he was far away.
“When I got to the market, I was told what happened and not long after, the police came to interrogate us and we took them to the scene.
“I learnt that Bonny and Osuma came to play lottery in his shop, but he did not submit their tickets to the lottery office. So, when those people realised that they had won, they asked for their money. Instead of explaining to them that he did not submit their tickets, he committed suicide.”
The Babaloja of the market, Mr. Najimudeen Ajadi, said that he was doing sanitation when someone notified him of the incident. It was also gathered that the case has been reported at the Sabo Police Station.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, who confirmed the incident, said the two accused persons had been arrested for questioning.
He said, “We received a report about a 70-year-old who committed suicide in the market. The man accused one 85-year-old man and another man. He left a note that those two people were responsible for his death; we want to look at the extent of their culpability. We have commenced investigation on the role they might have played and on why he accused them.”
