By Ediri Ejoh

RESIDENTS of Ijora, and the Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc, EKEDC, have raised alarm over the incessant threat of vandals that have continued to cart away sensitive equipment from the transformers, saying this has plunged the area into constant darkness.

Vanguard gathered that over time, the community and the Disco have had to spend more to replace these cables, which according to them are very sensitive materials that cannot be ignored. Residents were therefore not surprised to wake up last week to find the corpse of an unidentified man by the transformer supplying power to Delta Liaison Company located in the area.

While no one in the community could confirm the identity of the man, many of the people spoken to said he must have died while trying to vandalise some electricity cables within the electricity distribution sub-station. Confirming the incident, spokesman for Eko Electricity Distribution Company Mr. Godwin Idemudia, noted that the man must have begun his criminal act when there was no power supply but luck ran out on him when supply was unexpectedly restored and he was instantly electrocuted.

Idemudia further said that the matter had already been reported to the Police, while the corpse of the suspected vandal had been deposited at the Yaba General Hospital Mortuary. While noting that no one had yet come to identify the man, he said the incident will further debunk the erroneous belief by some members of the public that only workers in the electricity industry could engage in vandalism of electricity equipment.

The Eko Disco spokesman said the deceased was not and had never been a staff of the company, adding that but for the sudden restoration of power supply to the sub-station; the man might have succeeded in his nefarious act. The company’s staff would thereafter have been accused of the crime.

He therefore called on members of the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious movement around electricity facilities in their communities to security agents or the nearest Eko Disco office.