The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors has called on the Nigerian Air Force, the military hierarchy, and the presidency to identify and hold accountable those responsible for the brutal attack on staff and journalists at Ikeja Electric’s headquarters in Alausa, Lagos.
The association condemned the violent invasion, which occurred on Thursday and involved armed personnel from the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base in Ikeja.
It vowed to pursue justice for all those affected by the incident.
The PUNCH correspondent, who was among those assaulted, reports that following the attack, the Area Officer Commanding, Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal AK Ademulegun, visited the IKEDC office later that day, assuring those present that an investigation would be conducted.
However, speaking on TVC the next day, the Executive Director of Research and Advocacy for the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Sunday Oduntan, dismissed Ademulegun’s response, insisting that the commander could not claim ignorance of the assault.
Oduntan, who also serves as the spokesperson for all electricity distribution companies, reaffirmed that they would not back down until justice was served.
He highlighted that the Ikeja Air Force Base owed a staggering N4.3 billion in unpaid electricity bills, with no indication of an effort to settle the debt.
“I want to believe that we’re in a sane country. I still want to believe that we’re better than we were in 1978 when Fela’s house was invaded. So, we want to see what will happen. We have to see what the presidency will do, and the military authorities too, because normally, heads must roll; not should roll, heads must roll.
“For people to leave Ikeja Air Force Base fully armed in trucks, to go somewhere and start beating civilians; they made them lie down on the floor of the Air Force base, more than a hundred people, and beating them repeatedly, someone must pay for this,” he stressed.
Describing the assault as a direct attack on all DisCos, Oduntan urged the country’s political leaders to take the matter seriously, warning that failure to act could embolden similar actions in the future.
“This is to the political class, this is not the time for you to be kissing your husband or kissing your wife to make any public show at the National Assembly. What the Air Force from Ikeja did to us yesterday was an indication that they can do a lot of things to all of you. This is how people easily plan and execute a coup. Because in a country where they will sign out vehicles and trucks with fully armed men, they signed out arms to invade civilians, we should not be dealing with issues that are not even important.
“What we should begin with now should be the issue of good governance. We should be at a point where no military person should be able to plan anything funny. What they did yesterday for us as DisCos is our coup. I pray they will not do that to the Lagos State Government, the National Assembly, or the Nigerian government. But unless these people are brought out, and we receive justice, I can assure you that they will do it again, and they will do it in a larger proportion. What happened yesterday was a coup against Ikeja Electric.
“And we need them to assure us of our safety, not just by one AVM saying you assure us after you sent your officers to come and kill us. So, this is something that the President needs to react to. Unless and until the military authorities do something about this openly and transparently, until they bring all the culprits to book, and we can see them, and they have to return the database, all the things that they took away. We no go gree(sic). They didn’t want us to see their faces from the CCTV, so they took the database away. There must be full restoration,” Oduntan declared.
The association has insisted on a thorough and public inquiry into the incident, calling for swift action from both the government and military authorities to prevent a recurrence of such an assault on civilians.
