Traditionalists carry out purification rituals as man hangs himself in Lagos.

At the NEPA Junction in the Agboroko neighborhood, in the Iba Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, the body of a man whose identity has not yet been determined was discovered dangling from a rope fastened to a tree.

When he returned to work on the morning of April 20, 2023, one of the employees at a mechanic shop nearby where the incident occurred reportedly discovered the body.

Olasumbo Adewale, a mechanic at the company, claimed that the deceased, who was wearing a black T-shirt and a white short knicker, allegedly performed the act using a seat that was next a vulcanizer.

He said, “When I resumed work that morning, I saw that people had gathered at a spot close to our workshop. Out of curiosity, I moved close to the place and I was shocked when I saw that a young man had been hanged on a tree close to a vulcaniser workshop.

“I quickly called the vulcaniser to inform him about the situation and he rushed down to the scene. It was when he arrived that he went to the Iba Police Station to report the case. What we also discovered was that the man might have used the seat under the tree to support himself when he committed the act because we found the seat below his feet.”

Jamiu Awosoji, a resident, claimed that attempts to identify the victim’s name and family members were unsuccessful.

“The place was crowded as people kept coming to look at the corpse. But despite the number of people who gathered to look at the corpse, no one could identify the victim. So, we felt he must have come from a far distance to commit suicide in this area. The police came around after the case was reported to them,” Awosoji said.

Another resident, who talked under the condition of anonymity, claimed that some local traditionalists conducted customary rites prior to removing the corpse from the tree.

The resident said, “When the traditionalists in the community were informed about what happened, they came around, and performed some rituals around the location where the incident happened.

“After the traditional rites, they brought down the corpse, placed it on the floor, covered it with some leaves and left. The corpse spent the whole day there. It was the following morning that we discovered that the corpse was no longer there. The vulcanizer who uses the place for business has been refused to do his business at the scene of the incident.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident.

“It happened in Agboroko under Iba,” he said.