Family of Mr. Prosper Igboke, the Anambra clergyman who was initially reported to have died by suicide due to rejection by his girlfriend, has refuted the circulating news and set the record straight.
Gatekeepers News reports that earlier reports claimed Igboke took his own life by jumping from a two-story building in Nnewi, Anambra State, following a failed romantic relationship.
The story, which gained widespread attention, suggested that a relative of the deceased confirmed that the 30-year-old from Leru community in Umunneochi Local Government Area, Abia State, had supported his partner’s education but was turned down when he proposed marriage.
However, a maternal cousin of the deceased, Promise Ikpe, took to Facebook to debunk this narrative and reveal the actual circumstances surrounding his passing.
According to Ikpe, the clergyman’s demise was not a result of suicide, and he was not rejected by his girlfriend.
Ikpe clarified that while Igboke did jump from a two-story building, it was not a deliberate suicide attempt. Instead, he had been grappling with mental health challenges that suddenly emerged.
This factor, according to Ikpe, played a pivotal role in his passing, making him not accountable for his own death. Ikpe also mentioned that the girlfriend had communicated with Igboke’s mother, confirming that she had not betrayed him.
Ikpe, whose mother’s maiden name is Cecilia Igboke and is a younger sibling to Prosper’s father, Bestman Igboke, said: “I did this post to correct some of the false narratives flying around.”
He wrote: “This is the report of what happened prior to his death.
“Prosper went for a ministration in Nnewi, and when he came back, he had lost his senses, he wasn’t mentally coordinated.
“No one knew why. His pastor locked him up and asked some people to watch over him while he went to a meeting instead of taking him to a hospital to find out why he wasn’t mentally coordinated.
“Prosper jumped from the window of the room he was locked in
“His pastor refused to give us his phone to investigate what happened to date. Pastor said Prosper had gifted him the phone.”
Chikwendu Anugba, a writer and another cousin of the deceased, also took to his Facebook page to debunk the report.
Anugba wrote: “Blogs went to market with the story that Obum committed suicide because he was jilted by his girlfriend who he trained in the university.
“I was wondering when he became rich and we didn’t know. Because the story did fit into certain narratives, the agendaists picked it up and ran without looking back. They said he committed suicide because of heartbreak. Meanwhile, the poor girl they maligned stood with the family in the time of grief.
“He was buried in our farmlands not because he committed suicide. But because in our tradition, it’s seen as an abomination for parents to bury their children.
“It is the duty of children to bury their parents. When a single man or woman dies, the corpse is buried far from the village so the grave won’t be a source of grief for his parents.”
