Photo showing TCN towers destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State. © Humanitarian Times
Residents of Maiduguri, Borno state capital are in the state of confusion following sudden blackout three days after Transmission Company of Nigeria managed to fixed the transmission lines destroyed by the insurgents about two months ago.
The Humanitarian Times reliably gathered from an impeccable security sources that another transmission tower was brought down by heavy explosives that were planted on the foot of the high tension pole.
The source said the terrorists planted explosives on each of the four legs of the tower not far away from the location of the last one they brought down in January
Recalled that the residents were thrown into perpetual darkness as officials of TCN battled amidst attacks by the insurgents to fix the destroyed lines.
In recent time, Boko Haram had resorted to another style of guerilla warfare by attacking the major economic enabler of the state.
Due to the attack on the power installations, residents whose businesses were badly affected faced a worse season of economic hardship.
After weeks of hard work by brave engineers and security forces, the lights eventually blinked back to life on Wednesday March 24.
Videos of mass jubilation by residents trended across the country as the people of Maiduguri welcomed back the (NEPA) light.
Sadly, the Junilation turned out a short-lived experience for the residents as the light blinked off as at 6am today.
Earlier, The Humanitarian Times learnt from sources at the TCN and The Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) that the early morning outage may not be unconnected to the possible repeated attack on the recently repaired transmission lines.
“We have confirmed it that the outage that befall the entire city was as a result of the breakdown in the transmission line. Another source who works with the Yola Disco said.
Also, The Commander of Borno state established Rapid Response Squad (RRS) had confirmed the outage to our reporter on phone. The RRS is in charge of security along the Maiduguri-Damaturu road
Asked if he was aware of any attack on the transmission lines, Mr Abioye, as Assistant Commissioner of police said, “we have confirmed the attack. It was another sad attack on one of the power towers. But you should get details from the relevant officials.”
A top government official who accompanied the security team to the fact finding mission on what could have likely trip off the light informed our reporter that “the Boko Haram gunmen had planted four bombs on each of the four legs of the towers that brought it down. We also noticed that they had also fired at the cable linking other poles and cutting them them down.
(The Humanitarian Times)