Rights groups and lawyers in Lagos have called for the prosecution of employees of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, who abandoned a live wire on the roof of a mosque on Ishaga Road, Idi-Araba, leading to the electrocution of a 15-year-old pupil, Afusat Musa.
The activists described the teenager’s death as a pointer to impunity in various establishments in the country.
A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), also urged that the workers be charged with murder.
PUNCH Metro had reported on Friday that EKEDC’s workers from the Idi-Araba office disconnected wires of defaulters in the area.
The wire of a storey building, whose residents allegedly declined to bribe the officials for reconnection, was abandoned on the mosque’s roof while still attached to an electric pole.
It was also reported that Afusat, who was in Junior Secondary School three, was returning from an errand on the fateful day when she was electrocuted immediately her hand touched the metal pole of an aerial mounted beside her house. The aluminium roof of her house was said to be leaning on the mosque’s aluminium roof. She died on the way to a hospital.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Falana said apology from the electricity workers was not sufficient and called for the prosecution. He said his chamber was ready to take up the matter.
He said, “It is very pathetic. Apology is not enough. All the electricity workers involved in the unlawful killing of the innocent teenager are liable to be prosecuted for murder. I have already informed two lawyers in my chamber to petition the police and the electricity company.
“We are going to seek the consent of the family of the deceased to sue the electricity company for their negligence which occasioned the untimely killing of the girl.”
The Legal Adviser, Human Rights Foundation, Mr. Oluyinka Oyeniji, said the electricity company should be blamed.
Oyeniji said, “When the nation is still reeling from the death of a UNILAG undergraduate from electrocution caused within the precincts of the EKEDC, we are again plagued with this grief under the same company.
“All dependents and families who suffer from needless wrongful deaths reserve the rights to institute actions in torts and for enforcement of rights.”
The President, Women Arise for Change Initiative, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said cases of avoidable deaths would be on the increase until appropriate sanctions were meted out to erring officials.
“The electrocution of another 15-year-old girl just a few weeks after a similar incident claimed the life of Oluchi, a student of the University of Lagos shows that authorities at various levels of responsibilities in Nigeria have become a total failure.
“Until government begins to mete out strong disciplinary measures against those whose failures are responsible for these unwarranted deaths, we may have another one on our hands in the near future,” she said.
The Lagos State Police spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor, had on Thursday said that the workers had been invited to make statements, but had yet to do so. When contacted on Sunday, Offor promised to get back to our correspondent on Monday (today).
The spokesperson for EKEDC, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, said the company had commenced investigation into the incident.
He said, “We are aware of the incident and a panel had been sent to the office to investigate the incident. I will get back to you as soon as the investigation is completed.”
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