Residents of Kobape, a Abeokuta community, can’t tell exactly how Mr. Paul (not real name) got up a high-voltage electric pole.
What they could tell for a fact on Sunday morning was that some cables were dangling, and a man, squeezed between some of the structure up the pole, sat thoroughly dead.
“We didn’t know how he died. Only God knows,” one of the residents said.
Some said such derring-do could only be suicide. Others think he was a thief.
The odds favour those who think Paul was up there to steal electricity cables. He was not an employee of any DISCO or GENCO.
The Ogun Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident to newsmen on Sunday.
“The man climbed the pole, possibly he wanted to steal the wires,” he said.
“I don’t think he wanted to commit suicide, because he has cut some of the wires.
“If he wanted to commit suicide, he only needed to climb the pole and hold the naked wire.
“But, according to the information at my disposal, he has cut some of the wires.
“Maybe there was a sudden power supply when he was cutting the cables.”
Oyeyemi disclosed that the corpse has been removed by the police.