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A 25-year-old man reportedly committed suicide in Ilorin after losing out in a bet on one of the European Champions League matches last week.
Daily Trust reports that the incident is said to have occurred in Oko-Erin area of the town after the return leg match between AS Roma of Italy and FC Barcelona of Spain last Tuesday.
The deceased was reported to have betted with a fellow football fan using his motorcycle. He staked that Barcelona would advance to the semi-finals having beaten Roma 4-1 in the first leg plyed in Nou Camp.
But the match went the other way, with Roma stunning Barcelona 3-0 in Rome making the aggregate score 4-4 and advancing at Barcelona’s expense by virtue of the away goal rule.
Reports said the deceased was badly damaged by the loss because the motorcycle which he used for commercial purposes, was his only source of livelihood.
Some other sources however claimed that the motorcycle was owned by someone else but that the deceased only had it in his custody.
Spokesman of Kwara State Police Command, Ajayi Okasanmi, who confirmed the suicide, however, said it was not in connection with match betting.
He said report with the police indicated that the man committed suicide because of huge debt on him.
“The man was said to have incurred debt here and there,” he said.
He explained that the deceased took his life by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his apartment.