UPDATE: Body of Drowned Medical Doctor Found | Neighbour Reveals he Had Attempted Suicide Several Times

The Marine Police has confirmed that a body suspected to be that of the drowned medical doctor, Allwell Oji, who jumped into the lagoon on the Third Mainland Bridge, on Sunday evening (read here) has been recovered.

According to Punch, the Police source said that Oji’s aged mother, Chinyere Orji, who still believes her son is not dead, and other relatives, have been contacted to identify the corpse.

”We cannot say if it is his body because we don’t have a picture of him. He was found exactly 10:30am and we have contacted his family to come and identify if he is the one. The body was found in Onikan,” said the police source.

Speaking of the unmarried deceased man committing suicide, it was gathered that he had attempted to take his life a number of times.

Sun News reports that Orji had tried jumping down from the family’s two-storey building four years ago but was saved after their neighbours intervened.

“Four years ago he attempted to kill himself and, thereafter, had tried doing so on a number of times,since then, his family had been monitoring him. We don’t know the kind of sickness he was suffering from, but we knew he was being monitored. That was why he was assigned a driver to take him around.

He was such a gentle boy, who never made any trouble. His family has lived on this street, Odunukan Street, Ebute-Ejigbo, off Morroco Road, near University of Lagos, for long; his father died four years ago. Perhaps the driver who drove him didn’t know about his condition because he was engaged about three months ago,” a man who pleaded anonymity said.

Speaking with some of his colleagues at Mount Sinai hospital where the doctor worked before he took his life. The Chief medical director, Adedoyin Adeniran, said they can’t conclude he is truly dead until his body is found.

A non medical staff spoke highly of the doctor describing him patients’ favourite.

“Dr. Orji was such a dedicated person. He was the firstborn of his family. He was a thoroughbred doctor who paid profound attention to the very minute things in Medicine.

He was such a quiet person and at the same time very active. He was most preferred by our patients. In fact, when some patients came here and he had not arrived, they would wait for him. He was sure to get to the root of things by asking penetrating questions. That was his trademark and why he was so much loved. Last Friday, he was here and we all played with him. We jocularly asked him to go and eat but he said he was going to see his patients in the ward. But we literally forced him to do so,” she said.