It took the timely intervention and rigorous community efforts by concerned youths of Ayetoro-Ekiti in Ido-Osi Local Government to burst a ring of suspected thieves caught in the act of stealing a large quantity of electricity cables which has thrown a section of the community in total darkness for many months.
Nemesis eventually caught up with the suspects as they were arrested on Wednesday by operatives of Ekiti Agro-Marshal stationed in the town.
The arrested suspects included a 72 year-old man simply identified as Mr. Ajitomobi O. David, Afolabi Olatunji, 42, Afolabi Olufunminiyi, 52 and Olaosebikan Tunde, 56.
A youth leader and Board member on Security in Ekiti State, Hon. Olajide John who spoke on behalf of the community told our correspondent that two months ago it was discovered by some residents of the town that about three electric poles were missing along Ayetoro/Igogo road with the wires carted away during the process.
He said the strange development led to series of secret investigations by the youths who kept their findings from the public glare until recently when the bubble burst.
According to him, “Our diligent investigations actually led to the clue of the matter as a credible source traced the stolen wires to the residence of Ajitomobi and native of the town”.
He stated that having established the fact of the matter, the community contacted BEDC office in Ado and the Manager of the company responded promptly by visiting the community.
Continuing, Hon. Jide John said; “When the BEDC boss came to the community, we asked him if he knew anything about the rolls of wires discovered in the residence of Ajitomobi to which he denied flatly noting that there was no record of such even before he came on board.
He noted that the revelation by the BEDC boss gave them the assurance that the suspects had stolen the items as they quickly alerted operatives of Ekiti Agro-Marshal to effect their arrest.
“Among the items recovered at Ajitomobi’s house included five bundles of wire cables and three cross bars while insulators used to support the poles were missing.
The four suspects have so far being handed over to the Ekiti State Command of Rapid Response Squad for further interrogations by Agro-Marshall operatives.
Further findings in the town by our correspondent revealed that the suspects had been at logger head with the royal father of the town and may have perpetrated the evil act to blackmail the monarch.