15th September, 2014
Yusuf Muhammed & Falobi Moses
An unidentified transformer vandal was electrocuted early Monday morning while stealing some feeder pillar units from an electric transformer at Lonlo Bus Stop, along Iju Road, Fagba, Lagos State, southwest, Nigeria.
The victim, who was in a pair of jeans and black T–Shirt, had succeeded in removing one feeder unit, but luck ran out on him while he was trying to remove another one from the Mitchell 500KVA when electricity supply was suddenly restored.
The corpse of the deceased, who was believed to be from the northern part of Nigeria, was discovered by a 13-year old boy, Segun Adedokun, who was going to fetch water in the area.
According to reports, on sighting the dead body, Adedokun raised alarm that attracted residents of the area to the scene of the incident.
When P.M.NEWS visited the area Monday morning, some residents who had gathered at the scene, were seen using their cell phones to take photograph of the electrocuted young man, while cursing him for attempting to steal the feeder units.
A witness, Mr. Egunjobi Samuel, said that vandals had been tampering with their transformer for a long time, adding that luck ran out on the victim because God wanted to expose one of them today.
“We have been experiencing this thing for a long time. Some people will just come and remove some parts from this transformer. God decided to expose one of them today. It serves him right,’’ Samuel said.
Another resident, Mr Olaolu Mike, accused cart pushers from Abattoir in Agege Lagos of being behind the vandalization of the transformer, adding that the electrocuted man was one of them as he came with his cart which was parked beside him.
P.M.NEWS learnt that the police at Red House Division in Iju, Lagos have been informed about the incident.
As at the time our correspondent visited the area, officials of Lagos State Government and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, Iju Ishaga Station, were already at the scene of the incident.
The IKEDC officials were still trying to disconnect the high tension cables as at the time of filing this report.
One of the IKEDC officials, Engineer Coker, said: “There was no supply of electricity throughout the night, until this early morning. So it is believed that he was electrocuted this early morning.”
He disclosed that similar feeders were re-installed at Tokotaya, Agbado Crossing, Iju, Lagos last week after the transformer at the area was vandalized.