Electric surge: Community kicks over alleged multi-million naira damages by EKEDC’s cable …we are not liable – EKEDC management

Residents of the Oribanwa Phase11, Ibeju Local Government, Lagos State, are up in arms against the Eko Distribution Company (EKEDC) over an allegation that it was the company’s cables that did extensive damage to many homes in the community on February 13, 2019 and rendered many households homeless.

According to the landlords in the community, an EKEDC high tension cable had burst into flames, which resulted in an inferno that engulfed all the houses along the route that the EKEDC power line travelled. Worse, the community has since then been without power supply.

While some members of the community were said to have suffered minor damages, the houses of victims like Taiwo Olalekan Ibrahim were razed and property worth millions of naira destroyed.

A formal letter dated February 20, 2019 from the community to the EKEDC stated that the affected properties included churches and private homes.

The community’s Landlords and Residents Association alleged that the EKEDC released a damaging electric surge that resulted in the inferno and led to extensive damage to the properties and installations. The association expressed outrage that there had not been any explanation from the EKEDC.

But Eko Trust learnt that the EKEDC had responded that its preliminary investigation of the unfortunate incident and eyewitness accounts revealed that it was the heavy duty truck of a cement company that ran into EKEDC installations and caused the surge that went into people’s houses and wrought havoc. The EKEDC said the truck driver, however, fled after hitting the installations.

The EKEDC management said, “While you have suffered a material damage, which we regret, it is obvious that the chain of causation was broken when the truck collided with our line. This is an accident caused by the truck resulting in wire cut/surge.”

The company maintained it would not be liable for the damage caused by the collision.

Leaders of the community would not be pacified by the company’s position and handed the matter over to their lawyers, Chief Raymond Adekunle Olaiya & Co, who wrote to the EKEDC demanding that the company “assuage the traumatic and heavy loss of property and inconveniences forced on our client by uncontrolled surge of electrical current from EKEDC distribution channel, which burnt down their client’s family property, rendering them homeless and destitute.”

The lawyers listed items allegedly damaged by the electric surge in one house alone to include four deep freezers, one three-horse power standing split unit air conditioner, 11 up-hanging split air conditioner and two half-up hanging split air conditioner.

Other items were the entire roof zinc used for the house estimated at N1.7 million, the ceiling of the house, said to cost N1.2m at the time of construction, all the wiring conduit installations fixed at a cost of N785,000, four flat screen television sets, clothes of different fabrics and styles estimated at no less than N3.5m, and beds and furniture.

The lawyer said that “arising from the above losses, our client and his family members hitherto staying in the burnt house were rendered homeless and are now facing severe hardship.”

The basic principle of law, according to the lawyers, “is that our client, who has suffered serious injury, should as nearly as possible get back to the same position as he would have been if his property had not been razed due to the electric surge.”

They are, therefore, demanding for their clients, “a reasonable amount of money not less than N15,000 daily, an alternative accommodation in the neighbour beginning from the February 13 2019 date that the incident took place until our client’s property is fully repaired and habitable, compensation for the damages suffered as loss due to the electric surge and N10m for the inconveniences being suffered.”

Our correspondent observed that the community remained in darkness when he visited there at the weekend. The lawyers were also yet to file a case against the EKEDC as they had threatened, even as there had not been any amicable settlement between the community’s association and the power distribution company.