JED worker electrocuted, family alleges conspiracy

The family of Abubakar Baba, an employee of Jos Electricity Distribution (JED), in Bauchi State, who died on an electric pole, will be marking this year’s Sallah celebrations without their breadwinner.

Abubakar and his colleagues were on Friday, August 10, working on an electricity pole in Yelwa area of Bauchi metropolis before he met his untimely death. He was said to have notified the regional office at Wunti to take permission before mounting the three cable poles while his unidentified colleagues were standing by.

According to the deceased’s elder brother, Danjuma Baba, Abubakar secured permission and it was granted before he climbed the pole. “We have the copy of permission of power outage between 10:00a.m. and 11:00a.m. on August 10 to enable them work without itch but while working on the faulty area, we were told the man in charge of power restored the light, which killed my brother,” he explained.

He said Abubakar joined JED two years ago and was married to Maryam Ladan Baba with three children. His wife, Maryam could not speak to The Guardian because of her emotion coupled with two months pregnancy.

Danjuma continued: “The day the incident happened, I was ironing my cloth when someone called my elder sister’s line that he wanted to speak with a man in the family, then she gave me the phone and said that my brother had an accident and has been taken to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH).

“When we got to the trauma centre, a nurse took me to where Abubakar was laid. He had been covered with a cloth. When I opened his face, I saw he was dead. The nurse told me sorry, then I started crying. I saw his arm being electrocuted then I covered him back.”

Danjuma said the officials of JED visited them to express their condolences to the family and asked them of his death certificate. He added: “The company gave us two bags of rice, two packs of Spaghetti and a bag of Semo. They also said they are doing investigation into the matter and will get back to us after sending the death certificate to their office in Jos.”

Meanwhile, the regional manager of JED in Bauchi, Mr. Afeez Hassan, when contacted said the company has embarked on thorough investigation into the matter. Afeez in a text message to The Guardian stated: “Investigation is still ongoing on that unfortunate incident. We will only comment when that is concluded please.”

Also, when our correspondent visited JED Yelwa Business Unit to speak with the deceased’s colleagues, they declined, saying they could only comment based on official permission from their superior at the headquarters in Bauchi.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Bauchi Command, DSP Kamal Datti Abubakar, said he was not aware of the incident, but promised to get back with sufficient details, which he was yet to do as at the time of filing this report.