A tragic drama nearly played out in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, last Friday following a suicide attempt by a 49-year-old married man over the rejection of his love overtures by an 18-year-old girl.

In the incident which took place in the Bay Bridge area of Yenagoa Local Government Area, Edaiken, who is married and has two children, was reported to have invested a huge amount of money and energy into the relationship with the girl.

Edaiken lost his emotional balance when he discovered that the girl, identified as Favour, who had been rejecting his sex overtures and deceiving him into believing that she would marry him, was going to bed with another man.

Edaiken, according to neighbours, became emotionally depressed and began the plot to commit suicide within the compound.

Speaking on the development, the wife of the troubled man, Florence, disclosed that her husband woke her up in the night complaining that all the people he loved did not reciprocate his love.

She said: “I was alarmed when he came in complaining that all the people he loved did not reciprocate his love. I told him I love him but he said he was not referring to me, but one Favour whom he had spent so much money for and yet refused to return his gesture with love. He then asked if I could take care of our two children if he dies. At that point, I became worried and tried to discourage him from such negative thoughts. Early in the morning, as he stood up from the bed, I tried to hold him back but he broke loose and went outside.

“Even then, I didn’t know that he had already got a rope and some chairs where he intended to hang himself. But after a while, I saw him with a rope around his neck and his legs dangling in the air. I immediately raised the alarm and neighbours came around and used cutlass to cut off the rope.”

Some of his neighbours and sympathisers expressed disappointment over the incident. But the desperate man insisted on hanging himself unless the girl is persuaded to openly confess her love to him. Favour obliged and even promised to marry him.

•Pieced together from reports in Sun and Leadership.