Justice delayed is justice denied, a popular adage says. The case of a 15-year-old girl, Afusat Musa, who was reportedly electrocuted on Tuesday by a live wire disconnected and left exposed by four officials of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company begs for justice.
The girl, a Junior Secondary School three student, was electrocuted when the EKEDC officials allegedly cut the wire from a neighbouring one-storey building because occupants defaulted in their monthly electricity bill payment.
Musa was said to be returning from an errand at about 7pm and touched the metal pole of an aerial mounted beside her house located in the Ishaga Road, Idi-Araba neighbourhood of Lagos, which electrocuted her.
The alleged perpetrators were said to have initially denied complicity in the case, but admitted their fault when they were confronted by residents and the girl’s family.
The family members of the victim bemoaned the inability of the police to apprehend those involved in the act, saying they have not been able to get justice for their slain daughter because their family was not influential.
The Chairman of the community development association, Mr. Rasheed Bakare, said prior to the incident, several invitations had been sent to the electricity company for a discussion on the poor state of electric poles in the area, but were ignored.
Mr. Bakare ascribed the young girl’s electrocution to negligence on the part of EKEDC.
Also, a legal analyst told The Herald, “The Eko Distribution Company can be found culpable in the death of this young girl.”
When contacted, the Lagos State police spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor, said the EKEDC officials involved were yet to honour the invitation by police to come and state their own side of the story.
According to Offor, “The DPO (Itire police station) informed Lagos State of the incident and invited the concerned workers to the station, but they have yet to honour the invitation.
“Whenever our men go to their office, they are always told that the workers have gone out.
“We are still making efforts to ensure that they come to the station.”
Residents of the area criticised the police in their approach to the matter, stating that the waiting-game approach the police were adopting over the matter was not good enough.
They implored the police to order the four suspects arrested or launch a man-hunt for them.
This is not the first time EKEDC has been blamed in the electrocution of a student in Lagos, as accusing fingers were equally pointed at the company over the death of a student of University of Lagos in September.
The student, Miss Oluchi Anekwe, was electrocuted on campus when a high-tension wire belonging to the EKEDC cut from an overhead pole and fell on her.
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