Kabawa street in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, was on Sunday, thrown into pandemonium following the death of a 12-year-old girl, Malama Ramatu Muhammed, who was electrocuted while trying to pass a sachet of pure water to a customer through the window of a viewing centre allegedly belonging to Isiaku Babanladi.
The residents staged a protest to condemn the death, lamenting that they had warned the owner of the viewing centre over the connection of a naked wire to the window of his viewing center in the past but nothing was done about it.
It was alleged that the owner of the viewing centre connected a naked wire to a window in his viewing centre to prevent intruders from watching football matches.
The wire, according to someone who was inside the centre, had a live electricity running through it and people’s bodies kept rubbing on it each time they are inside the viewing centre.
When the incident occurred, many of the passionate football lovers who were in the building at about 4.00 watching Egypt versus South Africa match ran out.
Narrating the incident, a friend of the deceased and a food seller, Habibat Ibrahim, who confided in DAILY POST said, “Ramatu and I were seated together where I sell rice when someone asked her to bring pure water to the viewing centre. Having waited for her to come back, she did not. I had to trace her to the viewing centre where I saw her hanging on the window.
“I called her. As she refused to answer my call, I then noticed that something must have gone wrong to her. I then shouted and called for assistance. Some men came around and removed her hands from a naked wire. As the men noticed that she was already dead, they covered her with cloth”.
Also speaking, another eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Bala, also lamented that “We have been complaining of the way Babanladi is treating viewers in the centre. We warned him of the naked-wire he connected to the window but he refused to disconnect it”.
A young man who described himself as Salisu recounted, “I was inside the building when we heard a shout and all off us ran outside only to see a lady lying dead beside the window.
Awushetu Muhammed, mother of the late Ramatu Muhammed, in a chat with our correspondent, called on relevant authorities to bring Babanladi to book for connecting a naked-wire to the window of the viewing centre which she argued constituted serious danger to the public.
DAILY POST effort to confirm the incident from the police proved abortive as the Kogi State Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) William Aya could not be reached while all available lines were ringing without response.
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