The Traditional ruler and residents of Ugbegun Esan Central Local Government Area of Edo have cried out over the vandalisation of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) facilities in the locality, a development that has plunged the community into total darkness for over six weeks.
The community also fingered a staff of BEDC caught vandalising armoured cables and was handed over to the police for prosecution but was later said to have been released by the police in a suspicious manner which further worsened the situation.
The people alleged that the action of the community leaders and vigilantes in apprehending the said BEDC staff and handing him over to the police was responsible for why the BEDC officials had remained adamant about restoring electricity to the peaceful agrarian community.
They noted the plan to cover up the crime perpetrated by the said BEDC officials had crippled business activities in the community, even as they called on the BEDC management and other relevant authority to come to their aid.
Speaking on the development, the traditional ruler of Ugebgun, His Royal Highness Samuel Obade (JP), and the Itohan of Ugbegun, Chief Mathew Emiohe, lamented the suffering of the community due to the non-availability of electricity occasioned by the cable theft.
Obade said, “We have been 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 were hearing from neighbouring clans and we caught someone in the Ikiogbe substation but he ran away. We caught the second person vandalising armoured cable at the substation, 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, climb the high tension and loosen the cable with the pretence that he was clearing grass around the transformer.
“We have a force station in Ugbegun with over five staff and if he has no ulterior motive he should have asked the staff to come and clear grass around the sub-station. The vigilante saw the engineer (name withheld) on the motorbike with another person behind him holding the armoured cable. We called the police, but they were neither here nor there
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 Relations Officer (PRO), of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Evelyn Gbewen, when contacted, denied knowledge of the incident, saying the company was yet to be briefed on the matter.
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