A former Nigerian Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke, has disclosed that he considered suicide after they left office in 2015.

Adoke, who served under the immediate past Goodluck Jonathan administration and is currently on self-exile, made the disclosure in his forthcoming book entitled “Burden of Service”.

He blamed his suicidal thoughts on alleged persecution, which he said is spearheaded by incumbent Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu; and Senator Ali Ndume.

A report this morning by The PUNCH quotes the former minister as writing in the book: “To wake up every day and see my name being unjustly maligned on the internet was no longer bearable. Being hunted for what I did not do felt like a death sentence on its own. It is time to force my exit from this world, I told myself.

“I walked to the terrace of my rented semi-detached maisonette in The Hague, The Netherlands. I looked down. Plunging a few metres seemed to offer an instant relief instead of waiting endlessly for my vindication.

“I would become totally blank to shame and sorrow within seconds. I would never have to worry about the lies and the persecution again.

“My blood would be on the hands of those who hounded me to my death. They would live the rest of their lives with a bleeding conscience, assuming that they had any such thing. Death, rather than life, seemed very attractive to me now.”

Adoke, however, said he later came to his senses and chose life over death based on the fact that if he ended his life abruptly, nobody would tell his side of the story, while his family members and friends would live with the stain.

He said his traducers would also claim that his death was an escape from justice.

“I decided to live and tell my story,” he said.

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