OKE-IBUKUN RESIDENT OF ILESA DECRY THEFT OF THEIR TRANSFORMER PARTS

Residents of Oke-Ibukun community in Ilesa East Local Government have decried the stealing of vital parts of electricity transformer in the area by unknown persons.

Yesterday, at about 5:30am attempts were made by some men of the underworld to remove  the armoured cable in the transformer and some other vital parts of the transformer at the Orire Ogedengbe Elementary School junction. One of the residents of the community popularly called Pat intercepted the thieves who later escaped but leaving the removed cables and the spanner he was using at the transformer's cubicle. The matter had since been reported to the police.

Recall that last year this same cables were successfully stolen throwing the area into darkness for almost two months before the Community Leaders could organise the landlords and tenants of the community to contribute about N500,000 for the purchase of the cables.

A resident in the area, and the proprietor of De Love Mortuary and Embalming Services told this medium that the incident is very unfortunate.



“Last year, the armoured cable in the transformer  was stolen at night. The area was thrown into darkness for almost three months. This morning again the same thieves came again and made attempt to steal the same armoured cable that cost the community more than N500,000 to replace. This is very bad for a community that rarely enjoys electricity and we urge the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to urgently look into this matter,” he said.

Another resident of the area,  said the community suspects that staff of the power company may be responsible for the theft as an ordinary thief would not be able to steal those parts of the transformer.

“We believe this could be an insider job. In just two weeks, the same parts are been stolen from different transformers in the different parts of Ilesa communities. We believe that only persons who have knowledge about the working and worth of those transformers parts can dare to steal them,” he said.

The chairman of Oke-Ibukun Community Landlords and Tenants Association, Alhaji Jimoh pleaded with authority of IBDEC to investigate the matter among its local staff in the area and speed up action to bring light to the area. He also pleaded with the power company to urgently replace the stolen parts of transformers that have been successfully stolen from different areas of Ilesa during the crisis that has thrown Ilesa and it's environs into darkness. He warned that the communities should not be made to pay for replacement of the stolen parts as is been practise before.