From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
A middle-aged man said to be father of two, simply identified as Amas has lost his life over the weekend after being electrocuted at a high-tension pole in Ekeki community in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State opposite the new Police Divisional Headquarters along Azikoro road.
Investigations revealed that the deceased, who was not a staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) but lives in the neighbourhood, was on the pole to connect clients to the federal line after a heavy rain before the incident occurred.
Residents of the area which had suffered epileptic power supply since the beginning of the year were said to have prevailed on the deceased to connect the neighbourhood to the federal line which has assurance of 12 to 13 hours power supply daily.
The deceased, who hailed from Nembe Local Government Area of the state, was said to have been stuck on the pole for hours before officials of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC arrived the scene.
A resident of Azikoro road, Micheal Orubo, who witnessed the incident described the deceased as an easy-going person who does electrical work and light connections to care for his family.
“Amas lives on our street, and he does most of the connection work in this area, why has death come to him in such a way? He just left us where we were playing a chess game, and said he was coming back but never returned.
‘’He was easy going, who will care for the two kids he has left behind. The money he gets from these light connections is what he manages to feed his family with. What manner of death is this? There was rain, so he left to fix the connection immediately after the rain,’’ he said
Another resident who identified himself as Jackson expressed shock over the incident because the he was with the deceased some minutes before he went to climb the pole.
“He just passed me not more than five minutes, immediately after the rain stopped. The next thing I heard people screaming, we rushed to the scene of the incident but we couldn’t help it, because he was wearing a belt so it held him tight to the pole. There was nothing the people could do because we were all scared and it was still raining”
Police operatives at the Ekeki Police Division were also said to have witnessed the incident and were on hand to witness when the body was brought down by officials of PHEDC
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