A 45-year-old woman, Mrs Ifeoma Otubo, has reportedly committed suicide in Ebonyi State.

It was learnt that she hung herself on a mango tree behind her house at Okposi village, Umuoghara community, Ezza North Local Government Area of the state on Sunday

A brother to the deceased, Christopher Oyibo, said the mother of five had sometime in 2014 attempted to commit suicide because of hardship, but she was rescued by people, who spotted her.

Before she took her life in the hours of Sunday, Ifeoma had reportedly lamented that she was finding it difficult to take care of her children.

Her first child, who is said to be 25 years old, is jobless.

According to a community source, the deceased and her family were internally displaced persons as a result of the protracted Ezza/Eziulo communal war in the Ishielu Local Government Area of the state.

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The source stated, “She was among the people displaced as a result of the Ezza/Eziulo communal war. She returned to her father’s house together with the husband and children, but since that time, life has not been easy on them.

“About five years ago, she attempted suicide, but was stopped by people who saw her.

“But this time, her husband said he entered his room because they were given two rooms by the wife’s family; so, he entered his room, while the deceased entered her room with the children.

“So, very early in the morning, when the children woke up to ease themselves, they saw their mother hanging on the mango tree behind their house.

“It was said that the deceased, during her first suicide attempt, gave hardship as the reason because before the war, they were living well and had she had a shop she was managing, but when they relocated to her fathers’ house at Umuoghara, they became small farmers and life became hard.”

The Ebonyi State Police Command confirmed the incident.

The command’s spokesperson, Mrs Loveth Odah, who described the incident as unfortunate, conveyed the Commissioner of Police’s heartfelt condolence to people of the area.

She urged the IDPs not to lose hope as the government was working hard to resettle and give them a better living standard.

She, however, pointed out that the Ezza/Eziulo crisis had defied solution.