Four streets in Oshodi area of Lagos State have been thrown into darkness after thieves stole four armoured cables from the transformer supplying the area with electricity.
The streets are Abayomi, Ajagungbade, Odunsi and Ajigbotola.
The thieves were said to have stolen the cables between 12.30 am and 3.00 am on Monday, October 3, when there was no power supply in the area.
It was gathered that the vandals took advantage of poor security arrangements in the area to carry out the operation.
It was further learned that the thieves gained access to the transformer through a broken fence built around the transformer.
A member of the Electricity Forum in the area, Mr. Lekan Oladeinde told NewsDay that they noticed the cable had been stolen when they realized that Ikeja Electric had not restored power as expected.
“It occurred on Monday, October 3. Ikeja Electric interrupted our supply between 12.00 am to 4.00 am as usual. Then to our surprise, the light was not restored when it was supposed to.
“We called Ikeja Electric officials to ask what could be wrong when other adjourning streets had light. When the officials came to rectify the problem with the transformer, we were told that the transformer cables had been stolen.
Oladeinde expressed fury at the development, lamenting how it has plunged the entire community and others who depend on the transformer for electricity into darkness.
Our correspondent gathered that the residents of the affected streets including those of other five streets (Titilayo, Rufai, Daodu, Oyegoke and Olowokere) were still planning to raise N500,000 to complete work on the newly energized relief transformer in the community.
Our correspondent further learned that residents of the nine streets are visibly angry with the member representing Oshodi Constituency 1 in the House of Representatives, Hon Bashir Dawodu for failing to fulfill his promise of assisting the community in energizing the relief transformer
Hon Bashir, who facilitated the relief transformer in 2020, abandoned the project until the community took it upon itself to power the transformer. It was eventually energized in September 2022 through contributions from residents.
The nine streets had been on a load- shedding arrangements since 2012.
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“We are shocked that this is happening now, just few days after Ikeja Electric stopped load-shedding in the area by energizing the relief transformer for us”, a resident lamented to our correspondent.
He alleged that the theft could not have been done without collaboration with an official of the power distribution company.
“I want to believe the theft was done around 2.00 am. And me, I have to be very fair here, the people who did this thing, did it in collaboration with an official of Ikeja Electric, because the job they did was well timed. It was well-planned and successful. And I believe they have been planning the theft for a long time,” he alleged.
However, a top official of Ikeja Electric, who does not want his name mentioned because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, angrily asked the community to come forward with proof.
He said the community should rather blame their unreliable security arrangement for the development.
He said: ”They should prove their allegation that Ikeja Electric knows about it.
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