R. I. P Aisha: Friends mourn “depressed” ABU student who committed suicide on Boxing Day
Aisha Omolola Abdulganiyu’s pains and struggles were perfectly hidden behind harmless smiles.
Her friends and colleagues could barely tell she had so much bottled up that could lead her to take her life. Until Boxing Day.
The 300 level student of Ahmadu Bello University decided to end her pain by gulping poison at her home in Samaru, Zaria.
Before then, she had notified a few friends and her Whatsapp contacts of her intention by simply updating her status with “I love y’all” and “Rest girl… you need to rest.”
A few other close friends had also got disturbing messages from Aisha.
One of those friends, Maryam Olayemi Yusuf, after getting a screenshot of the deceased’s suicide note on her Whatsapp, quickly begged her to reconsider.
“I’m coming to you right now… Where are you,” Maryam, who fondly refers to Aisha as “Lolly”, pleaded.
“There’s no need… Av (sic) left the house already” was the response she got from her bosom friend.
According to Maryam’s Twitter post early Thursday, Aisha had gulped poisonous substance and life was leaving her body when she arrived her home.
“I wish I got to you sooner. I’m so sorry you had to do this to yourself. I tried. I tried so hard,” the resident of Abuja who is still coming to terms with the incident, wrote.
“Yesterday, I witnessed what depression and frustration could do to a person. I watched as life left you Aisha. Subhanallah!! No one should ever have to go through this again.”
Aisha’s suicide note had read that there was discord among members of her family and there was pressure on her.
“My mom has made life a living hell for me only because she is bipolar and frustrated. Accusing me of being a witch, trying to kill her and being a cursed child even though my brother is responsible for my education and upkeep,” she wrote in the note.
She added that she was a “broken child” who couldn’t see her “purpose” anymore.
“Please bury me immediately I’m found dead,” she said as a last request in the note.
Ironically, Aisha had hailed her mother as her “everything” in a recent Twitter post while also praying that she lives long enough to “reap the fruits of her labour.
Since news of her death went viral, Aisha’s friends have wondered if they could have done more to help her while she was with them.
“Rest in peace Aisha.. You should have spoken up instead of hiding so much behind your laughter and smiles,” another close friend, Issak Noah, wrote on his Twitter.
Another friend who described the deceased as “one of the happiest people on earth” said she was widely loved because she knew “how to spice things up and get everyone talking” in a dull environment.
Aisha’s death has since sparked another conversation on the rate of depression among many Nigerian youths and the importance of mental health awareness.
