A 28-year-old man, Princewell David, who hired an Uber car from the Igando area of Lagos State, has plunged into the Lagoon from the Third Mainland bridge.
Punch reports that the young man jumped into the Lagoon around 12am on Thursday after his girlfriend dumped him.
We gathered that David, a resident of Tajudeen Balogun Street, Igando, Lagos, had ordered a Uber ride hailing cab from his residence to the Lekki area of the state.
On getting to the Third Mainland Bridge at midnight, David asked the driver to stop to allow him to urinate.
Sensing danger, the driver drove close to the section where officials of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) were stationed to inform them about the unusual action of his passenger.
But before the driver could inform the policemen, David had come out of the Volkswagen Jetta car and jumped into the lagoon.
It was gathered that the 28-year-old landed on some floating logs of wood underneath the bridge.
He was taken to hospital after being rescued by the RRS personnel, the Marine Police Unit and some local divers.
On the RRS Facebook page, the driver of the cab was quoted as saying:
“I conveyed him from Igando and he insisted that I should pass through the Third Mainland Bridge and on getting to the bridge, he asked me whether that was the Third Mainland Bridge and I answered in the affirmative.
“He told me that he was pressed and that I should wait for him to urinate. I was curious. At that point, he was already forcing me to stop the car.
“I pretentiously drove him to the point where the Rapid Response Squad personnel were standing inward Lagos and I told him that I was no longer interested in the trip before I approached the police officers, leaving him inside the car.
“Before he jumped, one of the police officers who saw him approached the railings of the bridge and persuaded him not to jump.
“He was thereafter taken to Lagos State Teaching Hospital from where he was referred to LUTH. The incident was reported at Adekunle Police Station, Yaba.”
The RRS Commander, Olatunji Disu, told our correspondent that an Access Bank Automated Teller Machine card and the sum of N700 were recovered from David’s pocket, adding that the man was handed over to personnel at the Adekunle Police Station.
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said David sustained some injuries and was rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. He said:
“We have a report of a man, who jumped into the lagoon. He ordered an Uber vehicle and on getting to the Third Mainland Bridge, he told the driver that he wanted to urinate, but the driver, who remembered what happened recently, did not stop for him.
“He kept on mounting pressure on the driver, but the driver managed to drive to where our men were stationed to explain to them, but before he could do that, the passenger had jumped into the lagoon, but he was rescued by our marine police and local divers.
“David said he jumped into the lagoon because his girlfriend said she was no longer interested in the relationship.”
This is coming barely 12 days after Toju, a resident of Sosanya Street, Soluyi, in the Gbagada area of Lagos, was rescued after he attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the lagoon at 3rd mainland bridge.