Residents of the Magboro community in Ogun State have been left in darkness following the theft of electrical cables used for power transmission in the area.
The cables were stolen on August 18, 2024, affecting four streets in the community, with the culprits still at large.
Despite efforts to identify the perpetrators, a month has passed without any arrests, and the stolen cables have yet to be replaced.
This marks the third time the community has experienced such an incident, with previous occurrences in 2011 and 2022.
The Chairman of the Community Development Association, Adeyemo Mudashir,expressed frustration over the recurrent theft. “We have had to bear the cost of replacing the stolen cables ourselves,” he said.
“The government didn’t respond to our pleas. We’ve spent about N250,000 to buy new cables for the transformer.”
Mudashir believes the thefts are carried out by skilled individuals, possibly involving people familiar with the area.
“We don’t know the exact perpetrators, but we suspect it’s someone experienced. We also suspect those cart pushers who claim to transport waste out of the streets,” he added.
The CDA has reported the theft to both the power company and the police, but no progress has been made in identifying the criminals.
Mudashir noted that the thieves were likely aware of the area’s scheduled power outage, which facilitated their crime.
The spokesperson for the association,Sulaimon Opeyemi, emphasized that stable power supply could prevent such thefts.
“If we had constant electricity, those thieves wouldn’t have had the opportunity to steal the cables,” Opeyemi said.
“I appeal to the power company to give us stable light, as it would deter criminals from tampering with the infrastructure.”
In response, the spokesperson for the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Busolami Tunwase, urged communities to collaborate with DISCOs in curbing infrastructure vandalism.
She explained that while the IBEDC is responsible for replacing the stolen cables, financial constraints have delayed action.
“Tackling vandalism is a joint effort between us and the communities. We appeal to customers to watch over their installations and report any suspicious activity. Due to a lack of funds, we may not be able to replace the cables immediately, but we are working on it,” Tunwase said.
The residents of Magboro continue to live without power, hoping for a swift resolution to the situation as they await the replacement of the stolen cables.
