When Master Benedict Sanny bid his parents goodbye on his way to school that cold and wet July 12, little did they were seeing their little boy alive for the last time. Just 13 years old, Bennie, as he was fondly called, was the darling of his neighbourhood and had so much hope for the future, but few hours later, a phone call to his father shattered his dreams, and that of his parents.
After the school hours on that Thursday, Bennie chatted happily with some friends along the Benin-Auchi expressway about preparation for the forthcoming end of session examination as they waited for a bus to take them home. But he was not aware of the electrical live wire that dangled from a pole at suburban area of Eyaen, Benin City. Engrossed in their chats, he stepped on the naked wire and was instantly electrocuted.
The distraught dad, Pius Sanny, who hails from Kaduna State, was in his workshop carrying out repair work on a vehicle when his phone rang that afternoon. It was a strange number, but all the same, the automobile electrician answered it. The voice on the other end intermittently broke, but the message was clear. The caller identified himself as the principal of Eyaen Secondary School.
“Am I speaking with Mr. Sanny? the caller asked. “This is Mr. Sanny. I hope all is good,” the unsuspecting technician answered.
“You will have to come over to the school immediately. Your son, Benedict is not feeling too good. Be fast,” the caller ordered. The man’s heart raced as he quickly changed from his greasy mechanic uniform into cleaner clothes and drove speedily to the school. On getting there, he was given the bad news. From being a happy-go lucky-fellow, life suddenly came to a halt for Pius.
From investigation, a truck had hit the pole the previous afternoon and almost cut it in two, leaving the naked wire that would later claim a life dangling. The local Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), not far from there the pole was, did not deem it fit to immediately send their technicians to the site to rectify the fault, nor cut off power supply to the area. It was a tragedy waiting to happen and this carelessness has brought sadness into the world of the Sannys.
At the scene of the incident, a sympathetic crowd had gathered and they were not pleased with the sight of teenage Benedict as he lied helplessly beside the broken electrical pole. Pius was also down broken. He tried to find words to express his sorrow, but it wouldn’t just come out right. Confused, he ran to the corpse, knelt down, and attempted to carry him to nowhere in particular, but he was restrained by warnings that the electrical current passing through his son’s corpse could electrocute him too. In desperation, however, he still removed his shirt and covered the body of his dead son. As Sanny did this, the Catholic Church member wailed, giving vent to the agony running riot in his body. Bennie was the first and only son in a family of four children, he cried.
At the family house at Eyaen, near the Benin bye pass, sympathisers rushed in to offer their condolences as soon as news of Bennie’s demise filtered in. The apartment was turned into a makeshift church as the mourners chorused and prayed for the family and Bennie. Some fought back tears as mourners sang hymns. They all wore long faces and spoke glowingly of the deceased teenager. When Sunday Tribune tried to speak to him, the deceased boy’s father sighed deeply and waxed philosophical. “I am sure that my boy is in a better place. Benedict was deeply religious and never got in anybody’s way. He took his Christian religion very seriously. He was an altar boy who dreamt of being a priest someday,” he lamented.
Bennie’s mother, Hauwa, described her son as a very obedient and intelligent boy who was ever willing to help out in the house chores. In tears, the seamstress explained that she was in her shop when some neighbours came to inform her that her son was in distress along Auchi road. She attempted to run off to the scene, but was restrained by the news bearers.
By the time the tragic news reached uptown Eyaen, it was turmoil. Angered by what they reasoned to be the negligence of BEDC officials, some youths took to the streets. Auchi road, which connects the Edo State capital with Okene, Lokoja, Abuja and other parts of the north, was immediately up in flames. Barricades were erected and tyres were set ablaze right in the middle of the road.
At BEDC office on the main street of Akpakpava, the Executive Director, Mr Ismail Abu Ejor, attempted to set the record straight. He said that the media account of what happened was wrong, going by the company’s investigations. Ejor stated that there was a multiple accident on the road and in the process, a truck hit the electrical pole, but said that the pole didn’t fall to the ground. “The high tension wires on top were intact,” he said. He added that “the rods inside the concrete pole were exposed as the impact of the collision led to a chunk of the concrete falling off.” The two drivers were reportedly arrested by some vigilant locals who took them to the nearby police station where they were questioned and later released, but the vehicles were not released pending further investigations.
“From the arrest to the police station and questioning and the release, nobody informed BEDC. We were not informed of the development only for us to be told of the electrocution,” Ejor stated further. The executive director also noted that at the time of the collision, power supply to the area was still on as the conductors were not cut off, “otherwise, the feeder supplying electricity to the area would have tripped off, thus forcing the company’s technicians to trace the fault. In that instance, the damaged pole would have been detected.”
Continuing, he explained that from what he gathered, Bennie on his way home from school was said to have engaged his friend in a heated argument as to whether the exposed iron rods in the electrical pole could conduct electricity or not, as they were buried inside concrete pole. Determined to verify, he touched the rods and got electrocuted instantly.
“It was not a question of live wires dangling from the electrical pole. The pole was bent and the wires were intact. None of the wires fell off and the pole was way off the road. It is a case of homicide,” Ejor said.
According to him, the company was not liable, but it shared in the agony of the family and was ready to assist in Bennie’s burial. He thereafter led a delegation to visit, and commiserate with the grief-stricken family. At the family’s home, Bennie’s mother was distraught. She insisted that no amount of money would ever bring her son back to life, just as she demanded that a thorough investigation into circumstances surrounding the demise of her son be carried out. “We will always cherish the memory of my son, Benedict. There were no goodbyes. How could Benedict just leave us like that? Benedict was a good boy. He was gone too soon. At peace, my son,” she prayed.
Unimpressed by the spirited defense of the electricity company, however, the Edo State House of Assembly, penultimate Wednesday, constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the teenager. The constitution of the committee by Speaker Kabiru Adjoto, followed a matter of urgent public importance raised by Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie. Mrs. Ativie berated BEDC for negligence of duty which led to the death of the Eyaen secondary school student.
The lawmaker remarked that in spite of the fact that the Enogie of Eyaen, His Royal Highness, Iduriase Aiwerioghene, drew the attention of officials to the damaged electricity pole, and how their lackadaisical attitude led to the untimely death of the school boy, the only son of his parents. The committee has one week to submit its report to the house, which would form a resolution for implementation.
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