A 55-year-old woman, Amoke Adeko, has been reported to have jumped into a well in front of her residence.

Her body was recovered from the well on Friday, August 7, at about 11pm.

The mother of five was said to have been traumatized since her husband died eight months ago.

Her grandson was celebrating his birthday in the Igando area on the day it happened and her daughter, Amirat, the mother of the birthday boy, had brought a package of food prepared during the ceremony for her.

However, she sent someone else to give her mother the food, which made the deceased feel like she was being shunned by her daughter and consequently decided to end her life.

A resident said: “The woman had not been herself since her husband died. Amirat brought the food for her that afternoon, but she avoided her and sent it through someone else.

“I don’t know why she did that, but the mother felt embarrassed because she saw her daughter from afar. It was around 5pm. About two hours later, she jumped into the well.”

She was found when a neighbour, who heard a sudden thud, rushed to the well and saw Adeko’s slippers beside it. He was said to have raised the alarm after he went to her room and looked round the compound but did not find her.

Adeko’s first son, Ahmed, said he was not aware that Amirat shunned their mother, adding that she usually visited him and his siblings.

He said, “She used to come to my place; spend some weeks and visit my sister too. This is her husband’s house and we can’t say she should leave. Before the incident happened, she had been with my sister for some weeks. We took her to her church and after some prayers, we decided that she should go back home. That we don’t come here always does not mean we abandoned her. My dad died eight months ago; we did not abandon her.

“I don’t know what led to the incident but she was not traumatised. That day, my sister was marking her son’s birthday and I sent her to bring food for mum. She brought the food around 2pm. It was around 5.30pm that a resident called to inform me about the incident. She (Amirat) is not around now but she did not tell me that she gave the food to somebody else to deliver to her. What she told me was that she met her upstairs.”

Ada Igboanugo