A magistrates’ court has remanded one person for assaulting an Eko Electricity Distribution Company staff, and four others for vandalising properties belonging to the company.
This was made known in a statement signed by the EKEDC Head of Corporate Communications & Strategy, Babatunde Lasaki.
According to the press statement, Dada Fabian was arrested on the 16th of March 2023 for instigating mobs to beat up two staff while going about their lawful duties and causing breach of peace at Uzor Street, Ajeromi, Apapa, Lagos. She was charged with breach of peace and conspiracy to cause grievous harm, with others still at large. She was arraigned on 22nd March 2023 at Magistrates’ Court 19 Ajegunle and pleaded not guilty to the two counts. The defendant was granted bail in the sum of N50,000.00 and a surety in like sum. The defendant is remanded at Kirikiri pending her bail perfection.
In the same vein, Kehinde Shogbesan was caught on the 14th of March 2023 for damaging a transformer and stealing cable wires at Flag House, Marina, both properties of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company. He was convicted on 30th March 2023, having been found guilty of two counts. He was sentenced to one and a half years imprisonment for count 1, and two-years imprisonment for count 2, to run concurrently.
Ahmed Yaya, Aba Jide and others now at large were apprehended on the 12th of March 2023 along Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island where they stole cables belonging to Eko Electricity Distribution Company valued at N7,000,000 (Seven million naira only). They were arraigned on the 16th of March 2023. They pleaded not guilty to the charges and the matter was adjourned to 11th April 2023.
Also, Ibrahim Abdullahi was caught stealing and vandalizing earth wire, statical wire and a statical meter valued at N250,000 (Two hundred and fifty thousand naira only) on the 13th of March 2023. He was arraigned on the 14th of March 2023 where he pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 (One hundred thousand naira only) with two sureties.
Mamudu Ali, Samuel Akowe and Stanley Umebuni were arrested on 5th March 2023 while attempting to vandalize and steal armoured cables servicing the transformer at Temple Road, Ikoyi Lagos. They were caught by the officers on patrol. The defendants were arraigned on Tuesday 7th March 2023 at the Magistrate Court 10 Lagos. The charge was read to them, and they pleaded not guilty to the four counts. The defendants were granted bail in the sum of N500.000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira), and three sureties with tax verification. The defendants are to be remanded at the Ikoyi Prison pending their bail perfection.
In the statement, Lasaki reiterated that EKEDC would not hesitate to apply the full weight of the law in dealing with members of the public that take law into their hands through assaults on EKEDC staff and officials.
He said where these attacks persist, EKEDC, in line with her obligation to provide service under conducive atmosphere to its customers, would as a matter of necessity, continue to escalate such matters to law enforcement agencies.
Furthermore, he noted that vandalism was one of the leading causes of poor power supply within EKEDC’s operation network and assured customers that the electricity distribution company would continue to work with relevant authorities to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice and face the full wrath of the law.
He called on members of the public to report suspicious activity around its infrastructure to the nearest EKEDC office or via any of the company’s official complaint channels: Website: https://ekedp.com, Email: whistleblower@ekedp.com, Phone numbers: 07080671170, 07001235666, Facebook: Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Twitter: @ekedp, and Instagram: @ekedpng.
Lasaki reiterated EKEDC’s commitment to providing quality power supply to its customers and encouraged them to assist the company in its fight against vandalism.
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