According to a statement issued by the State Commander, Soji Ganzallo, through the office of the Director of Information and Public Relations, Assistant Commander Moruf Yusuf, the suspects – Mansirina Usman (27), Janadu Ahyarn (20), and Husseni Abdullahi (20) – were arrested on Thursday, around 7pm.

Ganzallo said the arrest was made possible by the corps’ surveillance team, who acted on a tip-off that the stolen cables were being sold in the area.

“Before the arrest, information reached the corps that unknown thieves had vandalised and stolen transformer armoured cables worth N9.8m. “The Area Commander, Assistant Commander Adeosun Adeniyi, and his team were tasked with bringing the perpetrators to justice within 48 hours,” the statement read.

Ganzallo explained that the suspects confessed to buying the stolen cables from Mustapha and one other person identified as Minister, who are currently at large.

“Usman bought 30kg of cable for N300,000, Ahyarn bought 25kg for N250,000, and Abdullahi bought 20kg for N200,000.

“The suspects had in their possession four off-cut armoured cables, N18,850 in cash, three Android phones, two wristwatches, and two unmarked TVS motorcycles,” it was added.

The three suspects and the items recovered have been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force, Agbara Divisional Headquarters for further investigation and likely prosecution.

Ganzallo commended the surveillance team for their swift action and reiterated the cops’ commitment to combating criminal activities in the state.

The storm pulled down electric poles and cables, disrupting traffic on the Sango-Ota highway on Sunday afternoon.

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company confirmed the incident, appealing to residents to avoid contact with the broken poles and cables.

In a public notice, the IBEDC said, “Due to broken poles occasioned by the heavy downpour at Ota and Mowe, customers in the following communities: lyana lyesi, Osuke Town, Egan Road, lyana Ilogbo, Ijaba, Ijagba, Itele, Lafenwa, Singer, Joju, Alishiba, Oju Ore, Tollgate, Eledi, Akeja, Abebi, Osi Round About, Ota Town, Ota Industrial Estate, Igberen, lju, Atan, Onipanu, Obasanjo, Lusada, Arigba, Odugbe, Ado-Odo, Igbesa, Owode. Olokuta, Hanushi, Bamtish Camp Lufiwape, Eltees Farm, August Engineering, Spark Cear Soap Ayetoro, Amazing Grace Oil, Christopher University, Royal Garden Estate, Pentagon Estate and environs are experiencing power outages.”

The DisCo urged residents not to tamper with the electrical installations in an attempt to have them repaired, saying its technical team was working to clear and replace the affected poles and cables.

“Kindly avoid contact with the broken poles, saggy wires or any other electrical installation affected by the rain. Report any incident and do not attempt to repair or tamper with electrical installations.

“Our technical team is working to clear and replace the broken poles and installations to ensure power supply is restored as soon as possible.

We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience,” the IBEDC stated.

Meanwhile, in a video sighted by our correspondent, the utility poles fell on vehicles, including a long school bus, cars, trucks and a tricycle, trapping them down.

Voices behind the video said in Yoruba, “All the utility poles have broken down. There is pressure.”

The residents expressed concerns that they would have to endure power outages for over a week to have the poles and cables fixed.

However, they expressed joy that no life was lost in the incident.

“This may take up to a week or more to be repaired. Thank God there was no power supply when this happened,” one of the voices was heard saying.

Earlier, residents of the affected areas in Sango-Ota had reportedly complained of low power supply since January 2024.