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.
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