By Charles Ebi
Yobe State capital, Damaturu and parts of Borno State have been thrown into darkness as vandals suspected to be members of Boko Haram terrorists group have again destroyed the Gombe-Damaturu-Maiduguri transmission line just three months after repairs by the TCN.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria ,TCN, reported the destruction in a press statement signed by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndudi Mbah where it called on citizens to become more vigilant of suspicious activities around electricity infrastructure facilities.
According to the statement, the transmission line was brought down by vandals by cutting all four-tower footing and was noticed by the TCN around 01:44 am on September 21, 2024.
Furthermore, the company noted that its engineers will soon start work on dismantling and rebuilding the line.
The statement reads, “The Transmission Company of Nigeria ,TCN, hereby states that its tower No T372, along the Gombe-Damaturu-Maiduguri 330kV transmission line was brought down by vandals on Saturday, September 21, 2024, at about 1:44 am. This development has thrown the whole of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State, up to Maiduguri in Borno State out of power supply”.
“This time, the vandals cut off all four tower footings, resulting in the collapse of tower T372 along the Gombe-Damaturu-Maiduguri section, which was discovered by TCN’s linesmen deployed on emergency patrol”.
“Meanwhile, work will commence immediately to dismantle and evacuate the collapsed tower for reconstruction and restoration of the transmission line”.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria ,TCN, stated that efforts are currently underway by its engineers to temporarily restore power to Damaturu through a 33kV transmission line from Potiskum, while Maiduguri will receive power from the Maiduguri Emergency Power Plant ,MEPP.
In May, TCN reported that the vandalism of three electricity towers in Maiduguri, Borno State, had delayed the restoration of power to the North-East region.
In February of the year, the same Gombe-Damaturu and Maiduguri transmission line was destroyed by terrorists under the aegis of Islamic State of West African Province ,ISWAP. Similar attacks were also carried out on this corridor in December 2023.
Since 2009, the North-East Nigerian states of Borno, Yobe, and Yola have been a hub of terrorist activities, with Boko Haram once controlling an area the size of Belgium. In recent years, however, the group has been largely degraded and confined to the Sambisa Forest, though they continue to carry out sporadic guerrilla attacks on vulnerable communities and infrastructure.
