Dear Senator Akpabio, They Need Help, Not Jail -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, by virtue of his office, is the number three citizen in Nigeria. That is no small position, whatever opinion anyone holds about him. One thing to his credit is that he has a sense of humour. But that is also his Achilles’ heel: his sense of humour is not always in good taste. To be blunt, it is often in bad taste. That makes him more of a joker, in the literal sense, than a lawmaker. He jokes about legislative matters that require candour and sobriety.

While there are many instances to cite to justify this charge of immaturity in the serious business of lawmaking, I will focus on his recent, controversially un-senatorial remarks. On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, during the second reading of the Suicide Prevention Bill 2026 sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South), Senate President Godswill Akpabio opposed the move to decriminalise attempted suicide.

Ekpenyong’s bill seeks to replace jail time with medical assessment, treatment, rehabilitation and crisis helplines. He argued that Nigeria’s laws speak with two voices. One voice — the National Mental Health Act — recognises attempted suicide as a psychiatric emergency. Another voice — Section 327 of the Criminal Code and Section 231 of the Penal Code — makes it a crime punishable by a year or more in prison. The contradiction is apparent.

If Akpabio believes attempted suicide should remain criminalised, he should argue his point with candour. He is not alone. According to the WHO policy brief on the health aspects of decriminalisation of suicide and suicide attempts: “Suicide and suicide attempts remain illegal in civil and criminal law in at least 23 countries worldwide and suicide attempts are punishable in some of them.”

No one conversant with Nigerian law on attempted suicide should find fault with Akpabio’s literal interpretation of the statute. This is what he said: “As far as we are concerned, we are saying that suicide is a crime for now. Therefore, if you attempt it, you better succeed. If you don’t succeed, we will send you to prison.” That is the exact implication of the law.

If Akpabio had stopped there, he would only have been interpreting the law, even if many would still criticise him. But he made an expensive joke by adding that some young people contemplate suicide because “they have seven virgins waiting for them.” Even though he did not mention Muslims directly, the promise of virgins in Paradise after committing suicide is alleged to be the motivation of some terrorists who commit suicide in the name of religion.

Those opposed to Akpabio immediately turned him into a punching bag, arguing that he mocked religion. Well, maybe. But as far as I am concerned, that is beside the point. The real point is that, while struggling to exonerate himself from the allegation of mocking religion, Akpabio made revelations that further vindicate those of us who hold that the political class, in the name of politics, has invested heavily in religious rites at the expense of good governance. In other words, religion in the hands of Nigerian politicians has been used to destroy rather than develop the country.

To show how much he loves Muslims, he said that during his tenure as governor, he sponsored thousands of Muslims to the holy land, alongside Christians who travelled to Rome and Jerusalem. According to him, he sponsored 5,800 Muslims to the holy land and more than 10,000 Christians to Rome and Jerusalem.

If Akpabio is not joking or lying with those figures, he has only, in attempting to defend his reckless joke, explained to us why Akwa Ibom failed to develop under him. And by extension, a country that is governed as if by ignorant mystics — habitually sending thousands of people to holy lands with taxpayers’ money while its citizens battle to survive — is under a curse. That is why, with people like Akpabio at the helm of affairs, Nigeria can only become a zoo, if it is not already one, rather than a developed state.

I have written a number of columns on why sponsoring people to holy lands while abandoning governance is against the spirit of Islam or any religion that values human life and welfare. Akpabio explained why he sent people to the holy land. His explanation is no different from what other politicians have been saying to justify the practice. He said: “I send people to Mecca to pray for me and to pray for this country, and I do that even up to yesterday, and I have been doing that for the last 25 years.”

If we agree that prayers offered in holy lands are undoubtedly accepted, then with thousands of pilgrims sponsored with taxpayers’ money by Akpabio and his ilk, Nigeria should have become paradise by now. Yet, why is Nigeria still bleeding? Why are bandits lords? Why are Nigerians held hostage and treated worse than slaves? Why is the country going down? Why is the economy in shambles? Why is the majority of Nigerians a victim of multidimensional poverty? And why has suicide become so alarming that its criminalisation now has to be debated by lawmakers? It is because sponsoring pilgrims to the holy land with struggling taxpayers’ money angers our Creator; it is a waste and sheer nonsense.

Let’s turn again to the criminalization of attempted suicide. How many Nigerians would go to jail for failed suicide attempts? Prof. Taiwo Lateef Sheikh, Convener of the coalition and Continental Representative of LifeLine International, said the existing law criminalising attempted suicide discourages help-seeking among vulnerable persons. He explained: “When you criminalise attempted suicide, you stigmatise people who are already vulnerable.” Citing the WHO, he said, “Nigeria records about 16,000 suicide deaths annually, and this is a conservative figure because many cases go unreported.”

Instead of debating whether attempted suicide should be punished with jail or rehabilitation, why not address the root causes of suicide? According to the WHO policy brief referenced above, “Suicide is linked to multiple, complex and intersecting social, economic, cultural and psychological factors and challenges, including the denial of basic human rights and access to resources as well as stressful life events such as loss of livelihood, work or academic pressure, relationship breakdowns, discrimination and other life crises.”

All of the above challenges are what most Nigerians are currently going through under the lacklustre leadership of the APC government, under whose cocoon Akpabio is comfortably ensconced as the Third Citizen. And because the government has not shown even a scintilla of interest in addressing these challenges that compel some Nigerians to resort to suicide, it logically follows that survivors need help, not jail. How can a government stifle the masses with stifling policies, thereby creating an atmosphere that makes life feel worthless, and still criminalise suicide?

It is true that religion frowns upon suicide. The Qur’an is very clear and categorical about it (see An-Nisa 4:29-30; Al-Baqarah 2:195; and Surah Yusuf 12:87). Bible scholars interpret some verses to show suicide is sinful (see Exodus 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; and Genesis 1:27). Thus, suicide is a grave sin. Why? You cannot terminate a soul you did not, and could not, create.

However, punishing anyone for attempting suicide is like aiding and abetting them to re-attempt it with the determination to perfect it, leaving no chance of survival. We can debate it, but even from a religious point of view, attempted suicide is a sin, not a crime.

This understanding probably explains why many countries that had hitherto criminalised suicide later decriminalised it. With the ongoing legislative process to which the Suicide Prevention Bill 2026 is being subjected and its successful passage for second reading, Nigeria might soon join the league of countries that have decriminalised suicide.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio should learn to be mature in discharging his duties. Suicide survivors need help, not jail. May we not be victims.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com