A middle-aged man went mad in Benin, Edo State after embarking on 14 days dry fasting and prayer. The identity of the man could not be ascertained as at the time of this report.
Investigations revealed that the father of five children was returning from the church where he carried out the spiritual exercise when it was noticed he was behaving abnormally.
Eye witnesses account said he had been demanding for a plate of Fufu and meat from a nearby restaurant but suddenly burst out with incoherent statements.
He had also openly said he wants to kill himself. Efforts by sympathisers on Upper Sakponba road area of the capital town pressurizing the man to go home were resisted.
The man who looked frail had lain on the ground along road. Also, the pastor of the church where he carried out the fast later rushed to the scene after he was contacted but refused to disclose his name. The cleric had advised the people who gathered to allow the man to rest and eat too.
A man who claimed to be an ex- member of the church but pleaded for anonymity said he left the worship center because of the way members were subjected to hunger in the name of prayer and fasting.