By Ozioruva Aliu, BENIN CITY

The traditional ruler and residents of Ugbegun community in Esan Central local government area of Edo have alleged the vandalism of the BEDC Electricity company facilities in the locality by a staff of the company, a development they said has plunged the community into total darkness for over six weeks.

They said the staff was apprehended and handed over to the police but he was released under questionable circumstances and that since then the company has allegedly not done anything to restore light to the community.

Speaking on the development, the traditional ruler of Ugbegun, HRH, Samuel Obade, and the Itohan of Ugbegun, Chief Mathew Emiohe, lamented the sufferings being encountered by the the community due to non-availability of electricity, occasioned by the cable theft.

Obade said, “We were mandated to defend our facilities in our domain and that we have always done.

“Sometimes in August we increased our vigilance arising from what we are hearing from neighbouring clans and we caught someone in Ikiogbe substation but he ran away. We caught the second person vandalising armoured cable at the sub-station and was handed over to the police.

“This last one that happened was one of the engineers in charge of Igueben sub-station (name withheld). The vigilante saw him red-handed. A day before, they saw him take a ladder from someone’s house, climbed the high tension and loosen the cable with the pretense that he was clearing grass around the transformer.”

Corroborating the position of the traditional ruler, Emiohe called for the immediate restoration of power and said residents had been thrown into total darkness since the theft, adding that they had been victimised for crying out.

The Public Relation Officer (PRO), of Benin Electricity Distribution Company, (BEDC), Mrs Evelyn Gbewen, when contacted denied knowledge of the incident, saying the company was yet to be briefed on the matter.