For the second time in a week, suspected vandals have attacked power transmission towers in the North-East, killing a security operative in the process.
A statement by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, on Friday said the attack happened along Maiduguri – Damaturu Transmission Line on Thursday.
TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, in the statement explained that in addition to the destruction of the three towers, the very sad incident also cost the life of an NSCDC officer.
“It’s truly another very sad day for us at TCN, with this incident, especially with the loss of life of the NSCDC official.
“TCN comensurates with the family of the deceased and the NSCDC for this very sad and shocking incident”, she added.
Last the TCN had reported that vandals destroyed two transmission towers supplying electricity to parts of the North East, leaving Borno and Yobe without supply.
The company said one of its towers, tower T372 around Katsaita Village in Yobe State was vandalised on Thursday, bringing down the 330kV transmission tower which pulled down tower T373 along the same transmission line route.
According to Mbah, the incident, which took place at about 21:18 caused the failure of power supply to parts of the North East, namely, Yobe and Borno States.
She disclosed that while patrolling the line to ascertain the cause of the cut in power supply, “TCN engineers discovered the fallen towers, and the villagers confirmed they heard a loud explosion before the tower came down. On closer investigation, the engineers found evidence of explosives used by the vandals in bringing down the towers”.
