THE Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has denied the involvement of its officials in any way with the death of a young man suspected to be a commercial tricycle (Keke Marwa) rider, who committed suicide by hanging himself over alleged refusal of the agency’s officials to release his impounded tricycle, who was his means of livelihood.

The body of the man, who was yet to be identified, was found hanging on a tree around LASTMA’s office in Ikorodu area of the state on Thursday, July 11.

LASTMA, in a statement on Friday, July 12, by its spokesman, Mr. Adebayo Taofiq, denied that the deceased’s tricycle was impounded by officers of the agency.

But he confirmed that the body of the deceased was discovered in the early hours of Thursday, noting that no one had forward to identify him as either an Okada or tricycle rider from among several operators of Okada and tricycle that visited the scene.

According to the statement: “The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) wishes to debunk, in no equivocal terms, that its operatives are not responsible for the dead body found hanging by the gate of an estate along Lagos-Sagamu Expressway, Lagos

“Several speculations were made by sympathisers present at the scene. Some said he was dressed like a motorcyclist (Okada rider), while some speculated he was a tricyclist (Marwa rider). Some even believed he was brought to the scene by his killers during the wee hours of midnight and stage-managed it to give it the semblance of suicide, because the victim’s leg was touching ground.

“For brevity, no one could really identify him as either an Okada or Marwa rider from among several operators of Okada and Marwa who visited the scene.”

Adebayo said the body had been evacuated by the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU), Yaba.