By Kenneth Onuoha
365Daily – Two middle-aged men identified as Chinedu Anama and Uche Okpara were in the early hours of Friday arrested at Ozalla-Awada, Anambra State by a combined team of the Nigerian Police and the community’s vigilance group, over assault on some field officers of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC).
The officials were carrying out monitoring of disconnected customers at Ozalla Awada, part of Ogidi, on Wednesday 25th August, 2021, when they discovered an illegal connection at No. 13 Onyekwere Street, Ozalla Obosi, a building with 12 flats, all installed with prepaid metres.
The Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, made this known to newsmen over the weekend.
He condemned the act, saying assault of its officials has been one of the challenges the organisation has been facing.
Recounting the incident, Ezeh said the tenants in the building tampered with their prepaid metres, which led to disconnection of the house by the EEDC surveillance team some months ago.
The occupants, instead of visiting EEDC office to resolve the issue, resorted to illegally reconnecting themselves and were enjoying free electricity supply before the monitoring team working in that area discovered the illegal connection and disconnected them accordingly.
The team had already left the building to other location when some tenants from the disconnected building accosted them and launched an attack on four of them, leaving one of them, Ugochukwu Chukwunyerem, with severe cuts on his head. He was immediately rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
In the process, two mobile phones belonging to the EEDC officials got lost, while one was damaged. The vehicle used by the team was not spared, as the carrier, door and front bumper were also destroyed.
“It is baffling that a customer will engage in metre bypass, illegal connection, or any form of energy theft, and when apprehended, would resist disconnection (which is usually the first step in investigating such case), and even go as far as inflicting bodily harm on people carrying out their legitimate function”, Ezeh said.
He added: “The management of EEDC frowns at these actions and will not hesitate in ensuring that the law takes its course.
“We value our staff, and are concerned about their safety, especially when they are carrying out their lawful duties, and we are ever ready to protect them and prosecute anyone or group that assaults them.”
Ezeh recounted that in August, 2019, two officials of EEDC were assaulted at Umunya, under its Ogidi District, while in March this year, one of its official was attacked by a customer at Umudike, under its Umuahia District, inflicting a serious machete cut on his hand.
He said activities of energy thieves were negatively impacting the revenue of the company and this has a spiral effect on other aspects of its operations.
Going further, he added that it was a source of worry that some customers who have been metred would resort to bypass. According to him, this was a clear indication that they never had intention of paying their energy bills.
Ezeh disclosed that the culprits have been handed over to the Police for further investigation and possible prosecution, and expressed optimism that Management of EEDC will follow up the matter and ensure they face the full wrath of the law.
“There is no justification for the kind of assault meted on our staff by these suspects, and we hope that this will serve as a deterrent to others”, Ezeh said.
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