By ABIODUN LAWAL

There was pandemonium in Abeokuta on Monday when a man identified as Fatai Salami drank an insecticide known as Snipper and died at the premises of Ogun Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that Salami was allegedly asked to pay a fine of N215,000 for violating the COVID-19 law in the state.

Salami’s truck was said to have been seized by officials of TRACE and in the custody of the traffic management agency in Abeokuta for five days over an alleged N215,000 fine.

Sources told NAN that TRACE officials seized the deceased’s truck from his driver in Abeokuta on Thursday for flouting the social distancing order and failure to use face masks.

He was said to have followed his driver to the premises of TRACE to plead for the release of the truck,

It was gathered that frustrated by the non-release of the vehicle, he was said to have opted to drink the poisonous substance.

Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi, the Public Relations Officer of TRACE, confirmed the death of the deceased in the premises of TRACE in Abeokuta.

Akinbiyi, however, insisted that the deceased was neither a truck owner nor a driver.

“The man was neither a truck driver nor a truck owner. One of our commanders and people around saw him sitting on the floor and they asked him to stand up.

”As he stood up, he brought out something from his pocket and drank it.

“We later discovered that it was Snipper he drank. One of his bosses saw him attempting to drink it and screamed, but before help could come, he had drank it.

“He was rushed to the General Hospital Ijaiye and at the hospital he gave up. So the case had been reported at Ibara police station here in Abeokuta,” he said.

He also denied the allegation that TRACE fined the deceased N215,000 for flouting the COVID-19 law.

“That is a lie, it is not true. It was later we found out that he was a manager of a fleet of trucks owned by somebody else and one of the trucks was penalised for violating traffic rules.

“We also gathered that the owner of the truck had warned him to ensure he returns with the truck or risk sack.

“Who knows, may be that’s why he killed himself. It is so sad and unfortunate.

“He was neither a driver nor a truck owner, what he came here to do we don’t know. A whole lot of them usually come into the premises.

“If you commit a traffic infraction, you have to be fined and if you think that what you are being charged is on the high side or you are being charged wrongly, you have the right to seek redress which we also entertain and encourage,” he said. (NAN)

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