By Shina Badmus

Residents of Ekpan community in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta state have been thrown into total blackout for some days now after two electricity poles were brought down by a truck in motion at the popular Ekpan Roundabout.

According to Mr. Benjamin Kegbe, who spoke with GbaramatuVoice, the electric cables on the poles were not appropriately elevated, thereby getting stuck to a truck that was in motion, resulting in one of the poles falling on his shop while the other fell on the major road.

Although at the time of filing this report the cables have been removed from the road, the fallen poles are yet to be replaced.

According to Kegbe, “The pole fell on Thursday evening at about 7pm. It was a truck that dragged the light wire at the other side, so it was the pressure that now pulled the poles down; one on my roof, the other one is totally down at the other side of the road.

“The force the truck used in pulling the wire had much pressure on the poles, so it brought it down.

“For me, there was no crack on the pole but the rods used to build the poles are very tiny, making it too fragile and prone to compromise at any slight force from an object.”

Another witness named Gladys corroborated the account of Mr. Benjamin to GbaramatuVoice.

“On Thursday, one of those big trucks that usually carry loads was passing this road on high speed where the wire was. Usually, when reaching this particular spot it has to slow down because the wires are not well elevated.

“But he did not, and the cables got stuck on his truck. So instead of him to stop, he didn’t but kept going with speed and dragged the wire which pulled both poles down.

“People started running as the wire from the poles started sparking. But before they could come back looking for the truck, it was already gone.

“There is usually a woman selling banana and roasted corn with her children in front of the filling station near the pole. It was God that just saved them as they would have fallen victim to electric shock,” she added.

It was gathered that BEDC officials came Friday morning to remove the cables from the road but the poles were yet to be replaced.

GbaramatuVoice spoke with one of the BEDC officials on site who preferred anonymity.

He said, “The cause of this is as a result of a truck that dragged the light cable which eventually fell the poles. But as you can see our men are on ground ready to fix it. We are just awaiting official order so the materials can be provided to fix it.

“I am not in the position to answer when light would be restored but what I can say is that it would be done and the light would be restored as soon as possible,” he added.

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