EEDC vandals electrocuted in Enugu

TWO persons that specialised in vandalising installations of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) were electrocuted over the weekend while attempting to remove the power distribution company’s property.

The Guardian gathered that the two men, Francis Ezeugwu and his accomplice, whose identity could not be established as at press time were short-circuited on top of EEDC pole at Okpunnoegbu Ekulu Nnewi and Agulu town.

Meanwhile, a young man of about 25 is currently hospitalised in Anambra State for burns to his body while attempting to vandalise the EEDC’s 2.5 MVA transformer, which serves customers within Nnewi town.

The EEDC’s Public Affairs Manager, Mr. Eugene Aniowo, who made the disclosure to reporters in Enugu on Sunday, said the incidents had been reported to the Police, even as he lamented incessant vandalism of EEDc’s installations in various parts of South-East.

Recalling that a High Court in Abakaliki recently convicted a young man for vandalising property of the company, he said that about 30 transformers had been vandalised in the last six months at Nnewi.

Aniowo said that Ezeugwu used an iron ladder to carry out his nefarious act, adding that he was electrocuted during the process, while the mangled body of the victim, “ was found inside EEDC substation while attempting to vandalise the transformer components. His tools were also found littered around his dead body.”

Aniowo said: “The oil in the transformers was drained and their cable installations were stolen, putting thousands of customers out of service.” Aniowo said the company had lost several millions of naira in revenue by the activities of vandals in the last couple of months, stressing that the issue was on the rise in the five southeast states.