of Araromi Quarters in Ketu Area of Lagos State
were electrocuted in broad day light. The
victims, Bashirat Rauf, a mother of two and
Sodiq Saka, met their untimely fate under the
same circumstance. Bashirat Rauf was said to
had rushed out from her apartment when she
saw fire burning from a cable in a nearby
school. She reportedly decided to quickly pick
her children who were playing outside in order
to avoid being caught by the fire when she got
electrocuted in the process.
On his part, Sodiq Saka, 33, a plank seller, was
said to had gone to fetch water to put off the
fire in the school premises when he saw flame
coming out of their compound and he got
electrocuted in the process.
Mr. Saka Imam, the father of late Sodiq said, "as
a Muslim, I have accepted my fate. There is
nothing I could do to bring the dead back to life.
"We were to gather on that fateful day. He was
the one who slaughtered the Sallah ram he
bought for me. After that, he told me he was
coming to get something down the street, only
for someone to come and call me that my son
had been electrocuted in the neighbourhood. I
was told by some witnesses at the scene of the
incident that my son only went into the
compound of the school premises where it was
burning to assist the owner of the house, only
for him to be electrocuted by the falling cable.
Sodiq was said to had stepped on the naked
cable while trying to put off the fire. What else
do I do, I cannot give birth to a grown up boy
like him."
The Secretary of Araromi Community
Development Association, Mr.Wahab Awoyemi ,
described the incident as a very sad one for all
resident of Araromi community. "It was very
sad for us to loose two persons in a day. The
woman was in her apartment that fateful day
preparing meal, when information got to her
that the school near their apartment was
burning. She rushed out to pick her children
who were playing outside their compound and
stepped on the naked cable. She was
electrocuted immediately. "We made serious
effort to rescue both of them. We went to Eko
distribution company office at mile 12 to switch
off the light. The person who was supposed to
switch off the power was said not be on duty.
But with providence, they took off the power. It
was after then we were able to remove them
from the burning cable and took them to a
private hospital in the community where they
were later pronounced dead by the medical
doctor of the hospital."
"Before the ugly incident, we called on Eko
Disco officials to come fix the cable before it
will kill someone in the community. They did
not come until two lives were consumed. We
want government to come to our aid in the
community.
Source: Vanguard
