Govt seals church linked to billboard installation 
Five people have been reportedly electrocuted while trying to mount a billboard with a metal frame along the Obiri-Ikwerre area in Rumuosi community of Rivers State.
 
The incident, which occurred on Monday evening, involved a team of nine people. While five died, four others with injuries were treated at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH).
 
The Guardian learnt that the team was mounting the billboard with a metal frame, which conducted electric current when it touched the high-tension cable.
 
The electric current gripped and shocked five of them to death, while four others were seriously injured.
 
Meanwhile, officials of Rivers State Signage and Advertising Agency have sealed the building of the church that owns the billboard, along Obiri-Ikwerre, while the billboard is still at the site.
  
An official of the Agency told The Guardian that the area has been cordoned off pending further investigation. 
 
The managing director of the Agency, Tony Okeha, said those mounting the billboard did it without approval, adding that they acted illegally.  
 
He said: “They do not have any approval from the agency. We have spent time warning people against illegal activities such as this one. We regret what has happened, but this will serve as a deterrent that people should learn how to do things the proper way.
 
“The Agency regulates what billboard structures should be erected, where and whether it will cause visual blindness or accident and all such consequences. We go out every day to remove illegal structures because of where they are erected and because of the low standard.”
 
Okeha warned those mounting billboards without the agency’s authorisation to stop, as defaulters would be penalised.
 
“This costs the agency a whole lot because we have to hire equipment to carry out this enforcement. If you must practice advertising, you must go the right way. They must be certified, and they must concern themselves with the rules and regulations,” he said.
 
Meanwhile, the four people who survived the electrocution have left the hospital.
 
When The Guardian visited the Burn Unit of UPTH, they had all left. A hospital source said one of them, Diabo Umar, left immediately after he was resuscitated and declined admission.  
 
However, the whereabouts of other survivors are unknown at press time, while the remains of the deceased persons have been deposited in the mortuary.