As Nigerians struggle to survive the hardship caused by redesigned Naira notes and swap policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the situation has become aggravated for residents of a part of Ojokoro Local Council Development Area LCDA, under Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government LG Area of Lagos State, south West Nigeria.
The residents, spread across six streets: Aduke Odekunle, Aina, Ambali, Banjo Owoyele, Morenike and Wole Bamiduro have been groaning under pains and anguish they now live in darkness, with social and economic activities totally collapsed and paralyzed, because their power sub-station called Aina 2, vandalised by suspected vandals who are fingered as staff of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKJDC).
According to investigation by thegazellenews.com, the suspects, four in number and identified as staff of IKJDC, gained entrance into the substation, removed the four power supply cables from the transformer and took them away.
The Community Leader who did not want his name mentioned in print, while addressing journalists, narrated that the ugly incident happened late Thursday, 9 February and early hours of Friday, 10 February, 2023.
The community leader revealed that on the fateful Thursday, four technical staff of IKEDC, at Olayiwola, new Oko Oba (Fagba) Understanding Office came to the community as they routinely do and headed to the point they usually collect the key to open and access the power substation. The officials who visited in the morning claimed that they wanted to cut grass inside the power house.
By the morning of Friday, 10 February, 2023, residents in the affected streets suddenly observed that the neighbouring streets they share Feeder with had light, but no supply in their streets. They immediately suspected something might have gone wrong.
On getting to the sub-station, they observed that the station has been vandalized and that the supply cables have been removed and taken away!
Immediately, a formal complaint was made at the Ebenezer, Ijaiye Police Station. The case was subsequently reported at the Olayiwola Undertaking office.
Then, the IKEDC officials promised the community leaders they would come and inspect the transformer on Monday, 13 February, 2023.
On Monday, 13 February, 2023 some youths and their leaders visited a former Ojokoro LCDA Chairman, explained to him what happened, vis-a-vis the social and economic effects of the power outage, as well as the security threat the situation has posed to the entire community.
They also explained to the ex-LCDA boss how enraged the youths were and their resolve to stage protests against the injustice meted out to the community and residents. The former Chairman appealed to the youths, urged them to report the incident to both security agency and IKEDC, as well as follow up for the needful to be done.
The youths immediately after, with the community leaders headed to Undertaking Office for a meeting with the Technical Manager. The team eventually met the TM with one of the line Managers, Chuks by name.
Chuks at the meeting, confirmed that while the internal investigation was ongoing, he was already engaging the TM on how another cables would be sourced and fixed for light to be restored to the community. When asked to be specific when the new cables would be fixed, Chuks, it was learnt was not categorical, only saying that the fixing was subject to availability of the stolen materials.
After, the same Monday, the community leaders and youths moved to Ebenezer Police station. There, they met the Manager in charge of Vandalization at Jankara Business office – who has been invited by the DPO.
The Manager, thegazellenews.com, gathered attempted to absolve the accused technical staff – who entered the power house and remove the cables the previous week. The enraged DPO then directed that the four staff who were in the community Thursday, 9 February, 2023, should be produced and made to report at the station.
However, on Tuesday, 14 February, 2023, IKEDC made available only one out of four staff!
The explanation given was that the remaining staff were on leave! This medium gathered that the only staff made available has been detained for investigation.
Later on Tuesday, 14 February, 2023, repeated calls made to Chuks to get update from him on steps taken so far by IKEDC were ignored.
We however gathered that the Ebenezer DPO has detailed an official to visit the sub-station for on-the-spot assessment and preliminary investigation.
As the controversy rages, residents continue to express their agonies and frustration on havocs the blackout has wrecked on homes, businesses and the community in general.
The situation for now, is unpredictable as youths continue to mobilize themselves for action – to protest against the suspected ignoble conduct of the IKEDC staff, the suspected attempts to cover up some dirty details and delay tactics being deployed by the Disco Managers to quickly rise up to the urgent situation and ensure that the needful, so as to allow peace to reign in the community.
