Karatudu community, Gonin Gora, in Kaduna State has been thrown into mourning after a 26-year-old corps member, Mr. Justice Chimamkpam Gideon, was electrocuted as a result of faulty transformer.
Gedeon became the third person to be electrocuted, as residents and leaders blaming the Kaduna Electric Distribution Company (KAEDCO) for failure to repair faulty and unsafe transformers missing critical safety components.
The latest tragedy exposed what residents described as a deadly pattern of negligence by KAEDCO.
Karatudu Community leaders revealed that most of the transformers in the area are without “earths”—a vital grounding mechanism that protects against electrical surges and prevents electrocution.
Expressing the community’s fury, a resident Mr. Mordecai Ibrahim claimed his research shows that eighteen transformers in the area are without earths, making the vicinity a “dead zone.”
He vehemently rejected KAEDCO’s alleged requests for residents to pay for the repairs, comparing it to a “bus driver asking for money to pay for the repair of his vehicle.”
Ibrahim also lamented that the community has not even received a condolence message from KAEDCO regarding the young corper’s death..
The community’s frustration is compounded by a severe lack of electricity. Mordecai Ibrahim contrasted the current situation with the past, stating that while they enjoyed up to 20 hours of power supply daily before 2010, they now “don’t have up to 2 hours daily.”
Despite this poor service and the clear safety hazards, residents continue to pay their bills and have even had to purchase the electrical cables themselves.
Adegun Abayomi, Chairman of a sub-community in the area, confirmed that the problem has been known for over a year.
He disclosed that a memo was sent to KAEDCO last year alerting them that the earths on several transformers had been stolen, but “from last year till now, nothing has been done.”
A recent spot-check by Abayomi found out that four out of six transformers inspected were missing their earths, confirming that the danger is still widespread.
According to the community Chairman, Simeon Oloyede, officials have been “intensely called upon” to resolve the issue following the death.
This is not an isolated incident. Residents confirmed that two other people died from electrocution just two months ago. When asked if KAEDCO handled those previous cases, Chairman Oloyede stated, “Yes, they handled the burial, damages and collected all the properties that were destroyed.” This precedent makes the company’s current silence and inaction following the third death particularly galling for the community.
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