From Erirhe Loveth, IT Student
Women from Onoharigho Street in Otovwodo Community in Ughelli, headquarters of Ughelli North Local Government Area from have gone nude to protest the incessant vandalization of transformers in the area by unknown vandals.
The women who came out in their numbers, chanted different songs of lamentation, raining curses on suspected cable vandals.
According to one of the protesters, who identified herself as Mrs. Comfort Ojevwe, “Residents of Onoharigho Street had suffered untold hardship over the incessant vandalization of the transformer in the area, that often plunged the area into a total darkness.
“For over six months, the people of the area been in total darkness due to faulty transformer and similar vandalization.
BEDC officials has refused to come to our rescue even as bills kept counting, residents in the area have to tasked themselves and raised money for BEDC officials before it was fixed around November 2020, one of the protesters said”.
Continuing, the women revealed that residents in the area contributed over Five Hundred Thousand Naira to purchase all the faulty parts, adding that they were totally surprise that just within three months of installation, the whole efforts has again being thwarted by vandals as the armoured cable has again been stolen.
Vexed by this, they have to put have put a stop to this by doing the needful.
” This curse is for generations to come because we find it difficult to bath, cook and even use the convenience, they claimed”.
They however accused BEDC failure in supplying electricity to the area as the reason why the cables and transformer are always vandalized. Pained by the hardship of scavenging for water on daily basis, both Christians and none Christians alike, have come out to pray and lay curse on the vandals.
Some of the women who were unclad, dare the vandals to play with them as failure to return the cables will definitely bring disaster and calamity upon their generations to come.
It would be recalled that between January and March 2021, tens of transformers has been vandalized in Ughelli town as removal of armoured cable is becoming a trend in the town.
Since October, 2020 part of Isodje street in Oteri Ughelli community has been in blackout because the 300kva transformer has been vandalized and the armoured cable stolen. Also at Uloho Avenue, a similar vandalization took place which has thrown part of Ughelli Kingdom into blackout for months.
Though none of this vandals has been apprehended, but some persons believed that with the curse laid by the women, something different might just happened.
Effort to speak with the Business Manager of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, Mr Bethel Ebiuwhe was not successful as call to his mobile line were not answered nor returned as at the time of this report
