Albino Foundation demands investigation into member’s death in Lagos

It was reported on this blog that 23-year-old albino, Ugochukwu Ugogbua, committed suicide on Sunday Aug 16th. Well yesterday his house was besieged by members of the Albino Foundation, who demanded to know what made him kill himself. There were rumours that Ugo had killed himself because his parents wanted him to join Jehovah's Witnesses, a claim his family has since denied.
The members of the Albino Foundation commiserated with the bereaved family then proceeded to the police station to enquire about the outcome of their investigation on the incident.

At Festac Police Division, Lagos State Coordinator of Albino Foundation, Mrs. Omolala Joseph, said:

“We are here on behalf of the national headquarters of Albino Foundation in Abuja to find out what exactly led to the death of our colleague. “Though he was not a registered member of the Foundation, he was an albino like us, therefore, we have a duty to pay a condolence visit to the family, counsel them and orientate them. “Things like this cannot just happen. We need to know the exact cause so as to help re-orientate others.”

A member of the family, who simply gave her name as Oluchi, said:

“We have read a lot of reports on my brother’s death. I want to categorically state that he did not kill himself because he was forced to become a Jehovah’s Witnesses member. “It was not also because he was stigmatised as an albino. The truth is that what led him into the act were powers beyond him and he never left any note for us concerning his death.”

It was gathered that late Ugochukwu started behaving strangely a few months before he took his life. Corroborating the claim, Oluchi said:

“We discovered a month before his death that he started moving with some boys in the area. Later, he became reserved and then resigned from his job as a dry cleaning attendant. “We started counselling him, unknown to us that he was planning to take his life. We prevented his first attempt when he mixed cement and water and was on the verge of drinking it when he was stopped.”

It was also gathered that late Ugo’s mother left him and his sister in the care of his aunt in Festac several years ago after the demise of his father. His aunt, who is yet to come to terms with his death, refused to speak with at the police station. Police sources said investigation into the incident was still ongoing.



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