Posted by By Chimex Ndubuisi on
A Navy officer, Commandant Sanusi who hails from the Western part of the country on Tuesday, the 14th of December, 2004 committed suicide by jumping into the Onne Naval Base water.
A Navy officer, Commandant Sanusi who hails from the Western part of the country on Tuesday, the 14th of December, 2004 committed suicide by jumping into the Onne Naval Base water.
Commandant Sanusi, a Navy officer at the naval base, Onne in Eleme Local Government Area of rivers state killed himself after testing HIV/AIDS positive.
The senior officer, who has a house at Iriebe in Oyigbo Local Government Area where his wife stays, dropped a note for his wife and his handset.
According to what the Telegraph was able to gather, the content of the letter urged the woman to take heart and disclosed the journey the deceased would be embarking.
After committing suicide on Tuesday, his fellow officers and the family have been searching day and night to locate the corpse but to no avail.
But last Friday, 17th of December, 2004 the lifeless body of commandant Sanusi floated to the surface while his fellow officers ran helter-skelter for an alternative means of depositing his corpse at the mortuary.
However, during the passing out parade of the thirteenth batch trainees and launching of the Beacon magazine last Saturday at the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School Onne, many held their noses as the acrid smell of death hung in the air.
A naval officer who spoke to the Telegraph described the incident as unfortunate, and described the commandant as a hard-working man who would be missed by his colleagues.
The officer who pleaded anonymity, said that HIV/AIDS is real and warned people especially his colleagues to avoid casual sex.
But he said they should always use condoms if they know that they cannot bear it.
He said that the officer was not the first person to fall a victim but described it as a natural phenomenon.
"Nobody can say that he is HIV/AIDS negative until you go for a test. So, everybody should go for screening before you can say that you are free", he said.
Meanwhile, the body of the commandant has been deposited at the Naval Base mortuary, while the condition of his widow is not yet known.
There were fears the dead soldier may have passed on the stigmatic disease to his unsuspecting wife.
Investigation conducted by the reporter revealed that not less than 35 people have committed suicide after testing HIV/AIDS positive from 2002 to 2004.
A resident in Eleme, Mr. Kennedy Osaro said that people should not be killing themselves because of the deadly disease but should go for any trado-medical clinic for quick results.
He cautioned those who have contacted the disease not to spread the disease but to go for a treatment in order to reduce death rate in the state.