A security guard simply identified as Thompson, has engaged in a drinking and smoking spree with the aim of emerging tops among his friends at a joint in the Agege area of Lagos State.
However, Thompson could not live to tell the story after drinking a bottle of a popular alcoholic drink and smoking five sticks of cigarette within two minutes.
The deceased was said to have bought bottles of local gin popularly known as Ogogoro in the local parlance on Thursday, May 7, 2015.
The friends of the deceased promised to pay for everything he consumed if only he could finish a bottle of bitters and smoke five sticks of cigarette within the given time.
Vanguard gathered that after agreeing to the terms, the deceased opened the bottle of bitters, drank it in less than two minutes, smoked two sticks of cigarette, stood up and began to walk away.
Narrating the incident, a friend to the deceased, Ernest Joseph, 28, who had gone out with him said, “At about 8am, Thompson returned from his security guard job, went inside his room and slept.
“Later in the afternoon, two of his friends came. So I prepared Eba because he had soup and we all ate. We went out to a nearby local hot drink vendor, popularly called Tee Sugar. Thompson bought N50 quantity of Dongoyaro and N30 sachet of Chelsea for each of us.
“From there we went to another vendor in the neighbourhood and met some of Thompson’s friends from his home town. He ordered for two full bottles of local gin, Ogogoro, which we drank together.
“As soon as we finished consuming the first bottle, Thompson and his relatives began to speak their local dialect, which I do not understand.
“All of a sudden, the vendor brought a big bottle of bitters. I asked Thompson if he was the one that ordered for the bottle. He said his friends ordered it and that he wants to prove to them that he can drink a bottle of Alomo Bitters and five sticks of cigarettes.
“I tried to stop him but he drank it in less than two minutes, smoked two sticks of cigarette and decided to leave. His relatives called him back to smoke the remaining three.”
According to him, as soon as the deceased finished the fifth stick, he reportedly became uncomfortable, staggering, sweating profusely and breathing heavily as he walked away.
Joseph reportedly employed the help of a commercial motorcyclist to take Thompson home where he reportedly vomited several times before he finally passed away around 8pm.
Joseph said, “I was arrested because I was the one that brought him home in that condition.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, who confirmed the incident said the suspect has been arrested and the case transferred to the Homicide Division of the Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.
