The reported suicide of Toluige Olokoobi Babalola, the woman who gained fame in a viral ‘Mummy Be Calming Down’ video, has sparked controversy as conflicting accounts emerge. The Edo State Police stated that reports from the deceased woman’s husband and those of his neighbors contradict each other.
The video, which became an internet sensation in 2020, featured Toluige’s young son on his knees, frantically begging his mother after offending her. On Tuesday, an X user disclosed that Toluige allegedly took her own life in Benin, Edo State, citing unknown reasons and claiming to have been at the scene of the incident on Monday afternoon.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Edo State, Chidi Nwabuzor, addressed the issue at the Edo State Command Headquarters in Benin City. According to Nwabuzor, the accounts provided by the deceased’s husband, Mr. Lawal, and his neighbors were inconsistent. This prompted the State Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Adamu Dankwara, to launch an investigation into the matter.
Nwabuzor provided details, stating, “On the 8th of November 2023, the husband by the name Lawal reported to the Evbuotubu Division in Benin City, Edo State, that he returned from the market and found his two-year-old child, Ife Lawal, crying.”
He continued, “Immediately he burst the door open and saw the wife on a rope tied to the ceiling, so he loosened it and cried out to the neighbors who came and accompanied him to the hospital where the wife was confirmed dead and immediately deposited at a hospital mortuary in Benin City.”
Nwabuzor highlighted conflicting statements, stating, “The husband said the neighbors came upon his outcry and helped him to lose the woman. The neighbors are saying ‘No! We did not know anything about loosening the woman’ that when he shouted, we came and met him lying on top of the woman.”
Due to these conflicting reports, the Commissioner of Police ordered the case to be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation. The police emphasized the need for a comprehensive inquiry, especially given the absence of marks of violence on the deceased woman’s body, raising questions about the circumstances surrounding her tragic death.