15-year-old electrocuted

The parents, according to information, brought him to Gusau from Kware Village in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State early this year to join his age mates in a Qur’anic school owned by one Malam Iliyasu at Sabuwar Hanya area on the outskirts of Gusau.

 However, the ambition of both Sabi’u and his parents were shattered by death on Saturday, June 6 when he fell into a transformer house from the fence while playing with his colleagues and was electrocuted by the high tension electric transformer.

Malam Umar Kano, an eyewitness, told Weekly Trust that in the evening of that fateful day, there was a torrential rainfall in Gusau and immediately the rain subsided, Aliyu and his friends took to the streets to play close to a transformer house located in the area.

“I was passing by when I saw the boys playing around that area but I never thought they would go close to the transformer.

“So, a few seconds after I passed them, I heard a deafening sound coming from the soaked transformer followed by another shout from some of the children calling for help,” Umar said.

But one of the school mates of late Iliyasu, Muhammadu Sani, narrated that they were together with the deceased when he climbed the fence of the transformer enclosure and that he even warned the deceased to come down. He said just as Iliyasu was about to come down from the fence, he slipped into the transformer house probably through electric currents.

“We then called for help and when people gathered, they only stood helpless as nobody dared come close to the transformer because the entire place was wet and could electrocute more people,” Sani said.

Meanwhile, the teacher of the deceased, Malam Iliyasu has described the incident as the will of Allah, saying the deceased was a dedicated and committed student and prayed Allah for the repose of his soul.

When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the area, Superintendent Abubakar A. Shika, confirmed the incident but said he has forwarded the report to the police commissioner for further investigation.