*Man 32, jailed 6 months for cable theft
OpeOluwani Akintayo
17 August 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The General Manager of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, has appealed to the public, especially those in its district, to keep watch over electricity facilities in their areas.
He made the plea after a Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos, sentenced a 32-year old man, Ismaila Mabodu to 6-month imprisonment for theft.
According to him, if residents fail to keep watch over electricity facilities in their communities and same gets vandalised they would feel the pinch of being thrown into darkness as a fallout of such criminal act.
“On our part, we can only appeal to our customers and members of the public to help stop this criminal act so that they will not be thrown into a long period of darkness after the facilities serving them must have been vandalised”. Idemudia said.
Meanwhile, a Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos has sentenced Mabodu to 6-month imprisonment for theft of 10 meters of armoured copper cable at a substation around Nigerian Railway premises Yaba, under the operational coverage of Eko Electricity Distribution Company.
According to the police prosecutor in charge of the case, Mr. Amoke Akinyele, the man was arrested by some policemen from the Nigerian Railway Corporation on the 3rd of August 2017 at about 3.45 am while attempting to cart away the cable after severing it from a distribution substation.
The accused was subsequently arraigned on a two-count charge of wilful damage and theft of earth cable.
He pleaded guilty making the presiding Magistrate, Mr. S. O. Aka Bashorun adjourn the case for facts and sentencing.
It was gathered that when the case came up again on 14th August 2017, the accused repeated his guilty plea after the prosecutor had tendered the 10 meters of earth cable recovered from him as well as statements made by prosecution witnesses as exhibits.
Delivering a judgment on the case, the Magistrate said the offence contravened sections 285 and 350 of the criminal law of Lagos state and the accused was sentenced to 6-month imprisonment on each of the two counts.
While the sentences will run concurrently, the judgment was however without any option of fine.
Commenting on the judgment, Idemudia said the judgment would serve as a deterrent to those who engage in vandalism and theft of electrical cable and other facilities of the company.