A 31-year-old man, Oyebade Gbamila, is currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Musiliu Smith Street, Yaba, Lagos, for allegedly causing the death of a man by electrocution.Gbamila, an indigene of Ondo State, was accused of causing the death of a 30- year-old spare part dealer, Anthony Uwakwue, on November 2, after a heated argument had started between the two men at Cele Bus Stop on Oshodi/Mile 2 Expressway. PUNCH METRO gathered that on the fateful day, Gbamila, an auto mechanic, was leaving for his place of work in the Apapa area of the state, while Uwakwue was heading for his shop in Lawanson area of Surulere.Gbamila, who narrated his ordeal, said he had just boarded a bus, when Uwakwue raised the alarm and accused him of robbing him of his money and mobile phone.He said, "As I sat down in the bus, the man (Uwakwue) started shouting thief, thief and was pointing at me. He said I picked his pocket before I boarded the bus. I was shocked when he said that, and I told him that I could not have stolen the items, because I boarded the bus before him. So, it could have been someone else."Immediately, the bus driver and the other passengers told me to alight and they started beating me without even searching me. They were all calling me a thief and said I should bring out the stolen items. I told them that I didnt have the items with me and even told them to search me." The suspect said while all these were going on, Uwakwue was shouting and prancing about, looking for an object to hit him with."When the people were all rough-handling me, the deceased was shouting at me to confess and was looking for something to hit me. He said that by the time he hits my head with an object, I will confess," Gbamila said.The auto mechanic said while Uwakwue was looking for the object to hit him with, he touched an electric sign post at a filling station and got electrocuted."I didnt even know what had happened to the man, until I heard people shouting and out of confusion, they left me and went to the man, who was already stuck to the sign post," he narrated.Gbamila added that people stood away from the deceased for fear of also being electrocuted."Some people ran into the filling station to tell the officials what had happened and they told them to switch off their power supply. After the power was switched off, then the man fell down," he said.Eyewitnesses said the fear of being electrocuted prevented sympathisers from giving Uwakwue first aid.A source, who did not want her name published, said, "There was an argument between them, and people were accusing one of them of stealing the other ones money and phone. But I didnt pay any particular attention, until I saw people running and shouting fire, fire, that a man had been electrocuted. I had to move away from there because everywhere was wet because it rained on that day."An employee of the filling station, who craved anonymity, also confirmed the incident. He said it was not until people came to tell them to switch off their power supply that they became aware of what had happened. "We were here, inside the petrol station and some people rushed here to tell us to disconnect our electricity. We told them there was no electricity and we were using generator. But they insisted because someone had been electrocuted. It was then we quickly switched off the generator. We didnt even know what happened," said the employee.A police source, who wanted to remain anonymous because he was not the spokesman of the police command, said Uwakwue was already dead when they got to the scene.He said Gbamila was promptly arrested and taken to Okota Police Station, Isolo, while the corpse was deposited at a mortuary."When we got to the scene, we arrested the suspect and brought him to our station here. We didnt find anything incriminating on him when he was searched, but we found two mobile phones, a cash sum of N15,000 and other personal items on the deceased," he said.He said the case had been transferred to the Homicide Section of the SCID. He said an autopsy would be carried out on the deceased to ascertain the exact cause of his death. When contacted on the phone, the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, said the matter was being investigated.
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