The Nation Newspaper

Tag: High-tension

  • Govt to demolish buildings under high-tension wire

    Anambra State government said yesterday it would demolish buildings under high-tension wire.

    The Managing Director of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA), Mr. Mike Okonkwo, spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka.

    He said the Federal Government had written to Governor Willie Obiano to check unwholesome activities around high-tension lines.

    NAN reports that most of the popular leisure outfits at Abakaliki Street and Amaudo, near Aroma Feeds, are situated under high-tension lines.

    He said it was worrisome that people encroached on spaces under high-tension lines because they were cost-free.

    The ACTDA boss said the agency had stopped construction under transmission lines and instructed those living or doing businesses there to leave.

    He said accidents arising from this could be fatal, adding that the government will no longer condone such deadly adventure.

    “We have stopped construction ongoing under high-tension lines. Unfortunately, people build at night to avoid enforcement agents.

    “People hold tenaciously to the land and encroach on the right of way.

    “High-tension accident is deadly. We have instructed people to stop building under such places. Any bulldozer seen there will be seized,’’ Okonkwo said.

    He said ACTDA is dislodging shanties and illegal settlement in line with its urban renewal programme.

    The managing director added that the shanties removed include those at Ngozika Kwata and Nise serving as criminals hideout.

    He advised residents to go for decent accommodation, adding that those who wished to live in clusters should acquire land and develop it.

  • Rivers lawmaker is a member of my gang, alleges ‘robber’

    Rivers lawmaker is a member of my gang, alleges ‘robber’

    A suspected notorious kidnapper, robber and murderer, Justice Oti, aka High Tension, has alleged that a Rivers lawmaker  is a member of his gang.

    Oti, an indigene of Odisama in Ahoada East Local Government,  who was born on March 7, 1993, admitted being a member of Icelander cult, saying he killed 15 members of a rival Greenlander cult.

    He said yesterday in Port Harcourt that he killed because members of Greenlander killed over 15 Icelander members.

    Oti, who embraced the amnesty offer of the Governor Nyesom Wike administration, said he did not completely surrender his arms and ammunition, adding that  Greenlander members never submitted their guns, but only deceived members of the amnesty committee by surrendering sticks.

    The suspected kidnapper, who was arrested in Bauchi State, said he killed people during reprisals.

    He was, however, silent on the roles played by the Rivers lawmaker in his gang.

    Oti said when his deputy,  Lucky aka Iron, was killed by the rival cult and his head was cut and taken away, with the Greenlander members threatening to also kill him, he escaped to Bauchi State after hiding his AK-47 rifle and ammunition in his village.

    The police command has written to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, to release the Rivers lawmaker for interview by the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), headed by Mr. Akin Fakorede.

    The letter, obtained through a source close to Police Commissioner Zaki Ahmed, was dated October 9, with the command indicating that it was investigating cases of kidnapping and murder in Ahoada East Local Government involving Oti and members of his gang.

    It also indicated that inviting the Rivers lawmaker was to facilitate the command’s investigation, with the Speaker asked to release the lawmaker for interview with the commander of F-SARS on October 12  at noon.

    The legislator was contacted for his reaction through his mobile line, from 6:44 pm., but he did not pick his calls. An SMS sent to him was not responded to last night.

    Ahmed said his command had zero tolerance for crimes.

    Also paraded yesterday was Blessed Francis, a 20-year-old 200 level Geology student of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), who was arrested in Port Harcourt for alleged burglary and robbery, barely three months after another UNIPORT undergraduate, Ifeanyi Dike, was arrested for alleged ritual killing. He is still standing trial.

    A gang of an alleged three gun-running youths, comprising two ND-2 students of Rivers State Polytechnic, Port Harcourt, Frank Nwaaknma, 22, from Ibaa, Emohua Local Government and Ujie Francis, from Obudu in Cross River State, was  also arrested.

    The third member of the gang, Chigozie Junior Koro, 32, from Ogbakiri in Emohua Council said  he and Nwaaknma only wanted to assist Francis (Ujie) to sell for N100,000, a pistol he claimed to have picked during a communal clash in his village, with a promise to give them N10,000, before they were nabbed by the police.

    A 27-year-old suspect, Daniel Okpougo, an indigene of Edoha in Ahoada East Local Government, who was arrested with ammunition, alleged that High Tension (Oti) killed his uncle and he travelled to Patani in Delta State to buy bullets to avenge his death, before he was arrested on East West Road.

    Others held for crimes include Loveday Opi, an indigene of Egbema in Ogba/Egbeme/Ndoni Council and Sunday Didia, who hails from Egbeda in Emohua Local Government, both in Rivers State, as well as Kingsley Ofomata from Imo State, John Elvis, an indigene of Auchi in Edo State and Chimankpa Ukomwa from Orlu in Imo State.

  • Lagos demolishes 350 shops under high tension

    Lagos demolishes 350 shops under high tension

    The Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences yesterday demolished over 350 illegal shops built under high tension cables at Oba Wahab Ayinde Balogun Modern Market, Isheri-Olofin in Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area.

    Residents and traders living or plying their trade under high tension cables across the state have also been warned to relocate.

    Task force Chairman Olayinka Saheed Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP) said residents and traders of the illegal structures and shops/shanties were served adequate statutory notices before the demolition.

    The demolition was jointly carried out by the task force, the State Building Control Agency and Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.

    Egbeyemi said the exercise was carried out by the government in order to protect lives and properties of the people.

    The Assistant General Secretary of the market Mr Yisa Mudashiru was reported to have said that the traders have been there for over 35 years, adding that the markets was developed in conjunction with officials of Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area.

    Egbeyemi said other areas where illegal structures and shops were constructed under high tension cables have been adequately served with demolition notices.

    He said: “With time the machinery of government would move to demolish such illegal structures within other local governments and local council development areas in the state.”

    Each shop is said to have been sold out rightly between N1.5 million to N3 million or a monthly rent of N5,000 by a developer who got the property from two sons of a monarch, who claimed to be owners of the land.

    A man, identified as Mr Paul Akuagbe and his wife, Florence, told the task force that they just paid the developer N30 million last Monday for outright purchase of 10 shops.

    The affected residents and traders called on the government to help them recover their money running into millions of naira from the developer.

  • Council builds market under high tension cable

    Council builds market under high tension cable

    RESIDENTS, traders and business operators on Oladun Street, off Council Bus Stop in Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State have expressed concern over the construction of markets and shops under high tension cables commonly referred to as power line. The residents are worried that the council is involved in the exercise despite its inherent danger.

    They said the council gave Bolak-Omo International Company the go ahead to build the shops.

    The traders said they were doing their business in fear that the cables may snap anytime.

    According to them, it is not their wish to trade under the power line, but they were being forced to because of the prevailing economic hardship.

    A beverage seller told The Nation that they were aware of the danger but they must earn a living.

    “Life itself is a risk. Although there are implications attached to the location of the shops; people know that it is dangerous to trade there but because the economic situation of the country is bad, we have to survive. Even the person crossing express knows that it is risky to do it but he still does,” she said.

    Another trader Mrs Adeola Adeosun said the lack of affordable shops compelled her to rent a shop there. She said shops in the area went for N7,000 per month, but under the power line “it is only N3,000”.

    “We are afraid because it is risky to build under power line. We pray every day that it shouldn’t trip off. One day, a PHCN official told me that it was very dangerous, that it saps blood. I don’t think about it at all because if you think about it, you can become hypertensive,” she said.

    A corn roaster said she had never been a victim in her 25 years of trading under high tension cable. She said there were occasions that traders under the power line got electrocuted.”

    Son of the owner of the construction company, Mr. Ahmed Adewale, said markets had existed under the power line for years.

    Adewale, the project supervisor, said: “The market was there for over 30 years and nothing happened. It has never fallen on anybody or damaged any property. The shops there before were even iron-built and the roof was aluminium. But the one we are building is asbestos roofed. If anything happens, they will be given allocation to move to another market to trade.”

    But, an officer at the Ikeja Electric, Idimu branch, simply identified as Femi said it was illegal to build under high tension cable, noting that an accident can occur anytime.

    “If you look at the Ayobo Power line axis, it is clear of every obstruction and that’s the way it should be. It is not a function of the number of years you have been doing business there,” he said.

     He noted that trading under a power line for years without hitches does not make it safe or less dangerous.

    The LCDA said it resorted to building under the power line because of the dearth of land.

    It said government had to create room for traders ejected from the roadside.

    “When we chase people from the road side, where do you put them? If you don’t create space for them, they still go back to the roadside,” he said.

  • High-tension wire still at UNILAG hostel

    High-tension wire still at UNILAG hostel

    Three weeks after the electrocution of a 300-Level Accounting student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Oluchi Anekwe, the high-tension cable, which killed the students at the front of New Hall, is yet to be removed from the spot.

    The development is generating concern among students, who queried the value the school management attached to human lives. The students said it was insensitive for the school to keep the wire at the spot.

    When CAMPUSLIFE visited the spot on Monday, the perimeter fence of the hostel was barricaded with safety tape. The pole to which the high-tension wire is attached did not have restriction tape, while the wire remained on the spot.

    Although the wire was said to have been de-energise, students felt uncomfortable with the cable still left on the spot.

    A 300-Level Law student, who gave her name as Bukola, said the development showed the management did not care about the safety of students. “Perhaps, they are waiting for another tragedy to occur,” she said.

    Another student, Olanike Ibiyemi, said: “If the school management said the cables are not serving the school, what is the logic of leaving the severed wire on the hostel’s entrance? Do they think another tragedy cannot happen because there is no power flow in wire? The management needs to be alive with its responsibility.”

    At the time of this report, the wire remained on the spot.