From Mike Sogbola- Maiduguri
Governor of Borno state, Kashim Shettima has officially reacted to the death (presume suicide) of his personal steward, John Achagwa, who on Monday was seen hanging lifeless on a tree at the Borno State Government House.
Shettima, in a statement by his spokesman, Mallam Isa Gusau said John Achagwa was supported by the governor to build a complete seven bedroom apartment and also given a car with which he has been driving to work. He was said to have also made working comfortable for the deceased.
Gusau said: “Shettima was shocked and has been wondering what kind of depression could push John, who was generally known to live comfortably, resort to taking his own life.”
He said: “Governor Kashim Shettima is deeply shocked by the unfortunate incident especially given the fact that John who is in mid 60s was publicly known to be one of the Governor’s favourites as he served important guests at the Presidential lodge for more than 30 years.
“When John retired from civil service, Governor Shettima had requested that he be retained as casual staff because of his good services and the confidence in him. The Governor even supported John with personal funds with which he used in completing his beautiful house at a good location like Polo in Maiduguri. John also had a car to himself and he lived very comfortably. He was known to be friendly.”
He revealed that “the governor has directed the Commissioner of Police to ensure thorough investigation including carrying out a post mortem on his corpse and digging questions everywhere to establish what pushed him to take his own life.”
Recall that a personal steward to Governor Kashim Shettima on Monday was seen hanging lifeless on a tree at the Borno State Government House.
It was a gory situation as many gathered to watch the lifeless body of the steward, John Achagwa, dangling on a Neem tree at the back of the Presidential Lodge at the centre of Borno State Government House, Maiduguri.
The crowd that watched Achagwa were unprecedented as many had gathered to get a parting gift from Shettima who vacates the Government House on Tuesday after eight years in office.
The cause of the suicide remains a mystery as people could not put a finger to want might have made Achagwa to put an end to his life.
Many people that raised comments said it was difficult to know the reason behind the decision.
Some of his colleagues who spoke anonymously to journalists, said he had maintained unusual quietness since he resumed work on Monday.
One of them said: “He didn’t utter a word since morning. He just kept to himself. We were together till about 2pm until he suddenly disappeared.”
Men of the state Fire Service and security personnel were immediately mobilized to the scene of the incident to bring down the victim from the tree. It was the first time such incident would occur in the state House
Speaking later to journalists on the incident, the Borno State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Aliyu said investigation has commenced on what could be responsible for the death.
He said an autopsy would be done on him as part of investigation on the cause of death.
He said his family and friends would be asked questions to get to the root of the incident.
He however revealed that preliminary investigation showed that the man was financially comfortable.
He said the corpse of the deceased has been deposited at the morgue.
Achagwa was said to have retired from the Borno state civil service about eight years ago before he given a retainership by the Borno State Governor.