A staff of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Engr. Augustine Izekor has been electrocuted to death in a suspicious manner.
Tragedy struck on Thursday October 26th 2023, at Evbodia community in Oredo local government area of Edo State, when Izekor had embarked on an operation to restore electricity to Evbodia community when one of his colleagues allegedly ordered that the electricity power should be restored which led to his electrocution.
According to sources, the supervisor who led the team had called BEDC control room for outage as the work was in progress, but another member of the team instantly called the control room to restore power while Engr Izekor was still working on it, a development that immediately resulted to his death.
It was further gathered that, as soon as Izekor was knocked down some of his colleagues fled the scene, without informing the management or rushing the victim to the hospital for immediate medications, and this attitude raised some suspicious tunes to his death.
However, after much delay, one of them, was said to have gone back to the scene where he found the deceased battling for life.
He and some sympathizers who were watching the unfolding development, rushed him to Faith Mediplex Hospital, Benin City, after all.
One of the matrons on duty when Engr Izekor was brought to Faith Mediplex Hospital, said, “We were here when the man was brought alive around 4:00pm.
“He was alleged to have been electrocuted. We immediately attended to him and ensured that the proper emergency steps were taken.
“We tried our best till he gave up around 11:00pm in the presence of his sister who came when he arrived here”, she said.
One of the deceased sister, who simply gave her name as Uyimwen said, “I received a call from him that he had an accident and that I should come to Faith Mediplex Hospital.
“When I arrived there around 7:00pm, he was trying to respond to treatment until the bed he was laid was too uncomfortable for him.
“Then, we moved him to a separate bed and the doctor who we called upon came and fixed oxygen on him and the nurse tried to get sample of his blood.
“Nothing came out from him. But shortly, he became aggressive and removed the oxygen and he was curtailed by the doctor on duty.
“As soon as he calmed down, he was looking in a direction and that was when the doctor on duty ran a check on him and he declared my brother lifeless”, she burst into tears.
The late Engr Austin’s wife who wept bitterly said, “where will I start from? Who will I run to? This is the end of me. I am finished.
“He told me to cook rice for him before he left. Later I called him and he told me he will be home soon and I went to prepare the food to be warmed for him.
“I was calling him later because he doesn’t keep late outside. He didn’t take his calls and I managed to go to bed to find sleep which was not satisfactory.
“This morning, I was called by my pastor’s wife that we have a place to visit. I got dressed and followed her in her car, only for me to be informed at the terminus that my husband is dead”, she said.
One of his daughters, said: “my daddy has always told me of one Igbo man who is not happy with him in the office.
“When I asked him what was the problem with the Igbo man, he said the Igbo man has always threatened that my daddy who is new in the station cannot head them, the old staff. My daddy was in the midst of colleagues who wanted him dead. They should bring him back alive”, she said with tears.
It was gathered that when the family went to the BEDC office at Etete where he served a few months before his death, overzealous security men at the entrance quickly locked the gate.
This infuriated the friends and family members who wanted to be angry, but a management staff of BEDC came to calm the situation.
When contacted, BEDC Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mrs Evelyn Gbiwon who confirmed the incident said, “we just heard about his death this morning and we are trying to gather information about the circumstances that led to his death”.
