By JIDE OYEKUNLE
Simi Okapabi, mother of a 12-Year-old girl, Rejoice, has recounted how she lost her daughter to the cold hand of death when she was electrocuted by an abandoned high voltage cable of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) at Durumi village Abuja.
The tragic incident, which happened on Saturday, March 13, 2021 when the little girl was shocked and killed by the ‘stay cable’ that supported an electric pole placed near their compound while washing her clothes.
The mother of the deceased, Simi Okpabi, who was away in the market, when the incident occurred, has accused the officials of AEDC of being responsible for the death of her daughter as a result of wrong connections and abandonment of high tension cable.
She also accused the top officials of the company of negligence and attempt to conceal the identity of those staff behind the wrong connections that led to the untimely death of her only daughter.
The bereaved mother said the life of her daughter could not have been cut short if the officials have heeded to her complaints on the need to replace the electric pole near her house.
She explained that she had on several occasions visited their Apo office and complained on the dangers posed by the fallen cable close to the rooftop of her house but no action was taken.
Saturday INDEPENDENT gathered that it took AEDC officials months before moving to the area to replace the faulty pole and cable which was said to have been bought by the residents.
Simi narrated how she was having trepidation and fear before the pole was replaced that it might kill people and she asked them to relocate the pole from her house but they ignored her.
Investigation revealed that upon the completion of the work by the AEDC staff on the pole, a high tension cable was left behind which eventually contacted with the supporting cable placed directly behind their house.
She said “It was on Saturday, March 13th, I left my daughter at home and she was fine and I even asked her to do some works for me and I left for the shop.
“I have gone to their office several time and made complaints about the same cable that eventually killed my daughter. It was not up to thirty minutes when she died that they came and disconnected the light.
“They came here and they were asking me nonsense questions if I know those people that fixed the pole. I mentioned their names as Dogo and Muritala but they claimed that they don’t know them and that they are not their staff.
“The same people that always come to share bills for us and collect money from us cannot be identified by those directors that came to greet me at home. They denied it and said they don’t know them. I have been staying in this Durumi for more than five years now and I know them very well.
“Whenever the pole falls down in this community, they will not do it until people in this area contribute money to buy it.
“Like this one that killed my daughter, I told them not to put it close to my house again but I don’t know that as my mind was rejecting it, it will still kill my child.”
When our correspondent visited the scene of the incident, the cable in question has been disconnected from the pole leaving the ‘supporting cable’ standing alone.
One of the neighbours, Emeka, who witnessed the incident said, “Rejoice was shocked while she was fetching water because of the wet floor as a result of rainfall the previous day. She then moved to another side where she was washing clothes and she was shocked again and this time around she was looking for something to hold but she could find none.”
He, however, pointed out that there were many wrong connections in the community with high voltage cable placed few meters away from many rooftops.
He said they will continue to demand justice for the Rejoice until those AEDC staff who made the wrong connection and deliberately abandoned the cable are identified and brought to justice.
Meanwhile aggrieved residents in the area during the week staged a protest at the AEDC office located at Apo to demand justice for the victim.
The angry protesters also issued a seven-day ultimatum to the AEDC management to take responsibility for the death of the innocent girl and correct all wrong connections constituting dangers and threats to the life of residents.
They vowed to occupy AEDC if their demands were not met at the expiration of the ultimatum.
Speaking to our correspondent, AEDC spokesperson, Bode Fadipe said “It was an unfortunate incident. A little girl of twelve. We have a duty to investigate what actually led to it.”
When asked about the attempt by AEDC officials to conceal the identity of those staff who carried out the wrong connections, Fadipe said the company would not join issue with mother of the victim, adding that there was no way somebody would lose her daughter and would not be emotional about it.
According to Fadipe, “The issue of the identity of who did what is not the central issue. Do they work for a company? Which company takes care of the items that have led to this? These are the issues but not the officials, that is not the issue.”
He added that the company was being regulated by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and there are rules and regulations guiding such incident. (Saturday INDEPENDENT)
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