3-Year Old Boy Dies While Hugging Electrocuted Mum + 3 Others In Agege

On Wednesday, October 16, a day after Muslim folks
celebrated Sallah, tragedy struck at Oniwaya Junction,
Agege, Lagos, as a high tension cable electrocuted four
people in the area.

A woman, identified as Mrs. Oluwajedalo but popularly
called Iya Fathia, survived the electrocution but lost his
three-year-old son, Ayomide, who ran towards her and
embraced her as electric shock overtook her.

The incident was still a hot topic of discussion when
Saturday PUNCH visited the area on Tuesday as some
people were seen discussing it in the front of house
Number 88, Oniwaya Road, where the incident occurred.

There is a transformer located at Oniwaya Junction. House
no 88 is just two houses away from the transformer.

A resident of the house, Mr. James Eboh, promptly pointed
to a paper on a wall, a poster of the four victims of the
electrocution – Ayomide Oluwajedalo (3), Sunday Hisaun
(25), Samson Akinrinsoye (25) and Matthew (37).

Eboh shook his head and said the three-year-old victim
should not have died.
He said, "The incident occurred around 8pm. There was a
spark on the transformer over there. As we heard the
spark, everybody scampered for safety because it had
happened before.

"A cable detached from the transformer as the spark went
off. It fell on this shop here (in the front of No 88). Iya
Fathia moved towards the shop to warn the shop owner,
who was inside at the time. But she stepped on a metal on
which the shop was built.

"As the electric shock went through her body, she was
shaking violently. Ayomide who sighted her mother at the
entrance of the house, ran towards her and embraced her.

He died on the spot. But his mother survived.
"I am the closest friend of Iya Fathia (Ayomide's mother) in
this house. I was one of those who took her to a hospital in
Egbeda. It is just sad because the woman is not sane at the
moment."

Asked how Mrs. Oluwajedalo could be located, Eboh said
her family had requested for her discharge at the hospital
in Egbeda where she was undergoing treatment and taken
her to Ijebu-Ode.

"The woman was still in shock and she did not seem to be
improving. The family had spent a lot on her treatment.

They decided to move her to Ijebu-Ode because the cost
was becoming unbearable for them. The last time I spoke
with her in Egbeda, she was not sounding normal. She was
only saying, 'My son is not dead! My son is okay! My son is
not dead," Eboh said.

He explained that the young victim had been buried at the
Jafojo Cemetery.
Abiola Oladimeji, who was in his shop when the high
tension cable fell on it, said he survived by divine grace.

"I was told Iya Fathia was coming to alert us when she was
electrocuted. It is just unfortunate," he said.
It was a wonder that Oladimeji was not electrocuted
because his shop on which the cable fell is a moveable
metal container.

"I was lucky because there were wooden panels inside the
shop. If not because of that, I would not be standing here
talking to you today," the young man said.
Residents of Oniwaya could not provide any information on
where Matthew and Hisaun lived before their death. But
they gave direction to a house where Akinrinsoye lived
which is not far from where he died.

A resident of the house told Saturday PUNCH that his
relations had taken his body from the mortuary to his
hometown.

"He was not married; he was living alone here. The day he
died, he said he was going to the junction to eat in a
canteen there," the resident said.
Information gathered in the area where the incident
occurred indicated that such electrocution had taken place
in the same spot on several occasions in the last three
years.

A petty trader, whose shop faces the 'transformer of death'
directly, said about the middle of last year, there was a
spark on the transformer.

The man who preferred to be called just Alhaji, said, "It
was just like this one too. A cable fell down as the spark
occurred. It fell on a policeman. The power of the electric
current flung the man into the gutter there and he died
instantly.

"There was also a time a motorcycle was parked close to
the transformer. A cable sparked and fell on it. It burnt the
machine completely. Luckily, nobody was on the motorcycle
that day."

Oladimeji, who had earlier spoken with our correspondent,
corroborated this as well. He said he could recall at least
three previous incidents in the same place.
He stated, "Just this time last year, a policeman who was
holding a gun, was electrocuted right here.

There was a
time a motorcycle parked close to the transformer was
burnt.
"Apart from that, there was also another incident involving
a motorcycle. I cannot really recall if it was early last year
or the year before. A rider and a passenger were passing
by when a cable sparked and fell on them.

They were both
electrocuted.
"Why is it that officials of the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria cannot do something about this issue? Are they
only concerned about collecting money?

They are aware
because they always come here after each incident to
remove the cables."

When Saturday PUNCH got to the scene on Tuesday, the
cable that caused the electrocution had been removed.
It is common to see high tension cables hanging precariously
over residential areas in Lagos.

But residents of Oniwaya said the fact that there had been
incidents of electrocution in the same place in the past
should have been a reason for PHCN to put in place
measures that could protect residents if a spark occurs.

The residents were angry and on the night the incident
occurred, a number of youths stormed the palace of the Olu
of Agege, Oba Oyedeji Isiba.

Saturday PUNCH visited the Olu's palace to seek an
audience with the king on Tuesday but an official, who had
taken our correspondent's identity card inside, came back
later and said, "Kabiyesi is not available for comments."

PHCN Public Affairs Manager for the Ikeja Zone, Mr. Pekun
Adeyanju, told Saturday PUNCH over the phone that he
just resumed from leave.

When asked if he got any report in the past about
electrocution in the area, he said, "It may be speculation
that there had been electrocution in the area before but I
will find out about it."

But Senior Marketing Manager, Akowonjo Business Unit of
PHCN, Mr. Henry Adelakun, later told our correspondent
that the officials went to the scene of the electrocution the
day it happened but protesting youths did not allow them
to have access to the area.

He said, "Even community leaders who have my number
were already calling to caution us to stay away because of
the area boys in the area. But on Friday, two days after
the incident, the community leaders came to our office and
we promised to remove and replace 3,000 metres of cable
with new aluminium conductors.

"We later went to the area that Friday and met with the
residents in company with our general manager. When we
were informed that one of the victims survived but was in
critical condition, the GM indicated that PHCN will do
something for the woman, but in the interim, we had to
quickly send some money to her from personal pockets.

"It is unfortunate this happened. We have started the
removal of the old cables since Monday and should
complete the process by Friday (yesterday)"
However, Saturday PUNCH visited the area on Wednesday
and noticed that some of the cables had been removed.
Residents also said they had seen officials of the PHCN at
work in the area.
Source: Punch
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