John Okafor aka Mr. Ibu is loved by many people because he puts smiles on their faces through his work. In a chat with Saturday Beats, the comic actor said that he would have taken his life since 1997 due to the hardship he faced in life.
He said that at that point in his life, things were so hard that he could barely afford to feed himself. To make matters worse, the actor said he had no roof over his head and suicide seemed like the easiest option.
“Do you know that there was a day that I had prepared to kill myself in Ajao Estate? That day, I was prepared to jump into a well because of the situation that surrounded me. Three days before that day, I had not eaten and I did not have hope of eating for the next week. I was only surviving on water and I hate it when I bother anyone. Most of my close friends were not bothered about my well-being even though it was obvious that I was not alright. I remember December 18, 1997, a friend of mine who I squatted with called me in the morning and told me that he would be going home for Christmas and he did not want anyone to be in his room. I assured him that no one would come to his place but he said he wanted me out of the room. I told him that I did not have another place to stay.
“From where I was seated, I was looking at the well. I thought to myself, ‘is it not better to end my life by jumping into the well so that when people return in the evening and they need water, they would discover my body and my friend would know that he was the reason I committed suicide?’ I went to the well and as I opened the lid and prepared to jump inside, the image of my mother’s face flashed through my mind. I quickly closed the well and began to wonder how my mother knew that I wanted to kill myself. My mother was still alive at the time; she was about 80 years old. I went back and leaned by the wall. A neighbour, Francis, was playing a song by Michael Bolton titled ‘When I am back on my Feet Again.’ The song gave me hope and I decided to stay alive,” he said.
Okafor said that after he had decided against killing himself, he needed to find somewhere to sleep and since he had no one to stay with; he opted to sleep under a lorry, a space where dogs used as their house.
He stayed there for a while till God sent a helper to him.