metro
Consumers challenge Ikeja Electric over threat to withdraw prepaid meters
A group of entrepreneurs and customers of Ikeja Electric Plc. in Lagos State, weekend, sent an S.O.S to the Minister for Power, accusing the electricity distribution company of desperate attempts to crush their operations.
Specifically, they accused the officials of the energy supplier, believed to be the largest electricity distribution company in Nigeria, of threatening to ‘’forcefully confiscate their meters under the pretext that the consumers were operating with what they termed “old meters’’.
Thrice last week, the staff of the company from Igbobi Undertaking in the Somolu area of the State who mobilised to forcefully uninstall and cart the meters away were resisted.
“And, despite repeated explanations and appeals, the electricity company team said to be led by a male management of the company refused, bluntly to listen, saying that Ikeja Electric Distribution Company had already phased out ‘old meters’, the affected consumers stated.
‘’We further appealed to the officers that the meters were purchased by us and that it will be illegal to withdraw the meters which we bought, without replacement.
‘’In fact, we told them that we are of the opinion that in a normal clime, the meters should be replaced when they are withdrawing the current ones instead of putting us in darkness.
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‘’But to our dismay, they mobilised the second day, in multiples, apparently poised for a showdown with us.
‘’However, as law abiding citizens, we maintained our position that our meters were sold to us by Ikeja Electricity company and further our claims that we paid with bank drafts in favour of Ikeja Electric, yet they insisted on taking away our property’’, the customers said.
‘’Yet the team leader who was simply called ‘Sam’, the Undertaking Manager told us that throughout the country, meters are the property of electricity distribution companies, hence they are at liberty to withdraw same anytime, even, without notice.
‘’Despite the argument that we would inform our lawyers about the development, for advice, the Ikeja Electric men re-surfaced the third day with ladders, threatening to illegally cart away our meters and we still, as gentlemen and law abiding citizens asked them to reason.
‘’At that point, one of them told us that he did not expect us to argue the matter because if occasion demands, he would never resist taking his own meter by the company.
The electricity company however said that customers with ‘old meter’ should apply for ‘new meter’ while they would be ‘put on estimates’ pending the approval of their application.
‘’We were mandated to pay for ‘new meters’ costing approximately N117,000.00 each, within 14 days, failure which the officials threatened to take “drastic action’’.
Similar situation was reported by a top Lagos civil servant at the Ipaja New Town Scheme, an estate flagged off by the Lagos State Government in Ilapo Village via AIT, Alagbado Lagos, who recently approached Ikeja Electric for the replacement of her damaged ‘Customer Card’ but was only told to buy a new meter because the present one is ‘outdated’.
According to the consumer, ‘’they bluntly told me l would need to immediately pay for a new one which l did not plan for due to the present economic realities’’.
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Two of the affected consumers, Dele Oguntayo, journalist and Abass Adie, a businessman, narrated how the ‘bold-faced’ Ikeja Electric personnel swooped on their premises for the withdrawal of their meter to which they declined.
Oguntayo explained that he applied for a meter in year 2010 having paid N55,000.00 bank draft to Ikeja Electric and was not metered for several months.
While he was being issued what he termed ‘cut-throat estimated bills’ for about a year, he added that ‘’at a point, despite operating with a stand-by generator for several hours daily, the Ikeja Electric was billing him “thousands of Naira every month.
“The meter l applied for in the first quarter of that year was not supplied until about a year after my application and payment despite repeated visits and pleas to the company.
“Something will interest you: A professional colleague in a news agency as Energy Correspondent in Lagos had come visiting; and, about a year after his first visit, he promised to take my matter up with the Managing Director of Ikeja Electric.
“He even challenged me that as a journalist, l should have approached either the company’s Head of Public Affairs or better still, the Managing Director.
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“So, less than 24 hours of his intervention, two meters were brought to me, same day, on the instruction of the Managing Director of Ikeja Electric!
‘’My conclusion then was that the officials were hoarding the meters for the highest bidders and did not attend to applicants, except through touts.
“It may interest you again that about ten years later, a female staff of the Ikeja Electricity Company who claimed to be of the marketing department came with another joker, claiming that the meter I was using was the allocation of a woman within the zone.
“She threatened to withdraw the meter because, according to her, l probably manipulated the system to secure the meter through the back-door.
“Consequently, I made several visits to see the Manager when they relocated to Obanikoro area of Ikorodu Road but was always told that their boss was busy.
‘’But when I spoke with one Mr. Ayeni, the Ikeja Electric spokesman on the telephone last week, about the recent threat and my resolve to brief a lawyer, he directed me to one Mrs. Ayanga, the Igbobi Business Manager who could still not be reached for an appointment.”
While reacting to the incident, Adie was of the view that upgrading of facilities, including the metering system was a welcome development and asked the company to phase payment of the new meter rather than putting consumers on estimated bills after withdrawal of the existing meters.
Eagle
metro
Soldier dies while ‘rushing to rescue brother arrested by policemen’
A soldier of the Nigerian Army, Lcpl Ojo Tope has died in an accident in Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti State.
According to a report by SaharaReporters, multiple sources said the deceased attached to the 322 Artillery regiment in Benin City was on his way to meet policemen who had allegedly arrested his brother illegally.
The incident occurred around 10 pm on Wednesday.
The policemen attached to Ikere Area Command had reportedly illegally detained Ojo’s brother and after talking to him on the phone, Ojo was asked to come to their checkpoint and identify himself as a soldier.
SaharaReporters learnt that on his way to the checkpoint, Ojo was involved in an accident.
A relative of the deceased told the online newspaper that : “A soldier (Ojo Tope) serving in Benin City came home on a pass in Ikere Ekiti. Around 10 pm on Wednesday, he realised there was no fuel in their generator. So, he sent his younger brother who has a car to get fuel for him.
“However, on his way to get the fuel, the guy met some policemen on the road and they arrested him illegally. They asked him why he was driving at that time and asked him to unlock his phone as well but he refused.
“He pleaded with them that it was his soldier brother who sent him to buy fuel but they refused to let him go. So, he later called the soldier to talk to the policemen and one of them asked him to come and meet them. Sadly, on his way there on a bike, he had an accident.
“After the accident, people rushed him down to where the policemen seized the brother’s car and they pleaded with them to release the car so they could use it to rescue the soldier to the state hospital in Ikere but they refused to release the vehicle.
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“They later got another one to carry the soldier to the hospital. Unfortunately, before they would get to the hospital, the soldier gave up. His body is now in the morgue.”
The family source said some residents who heard about Ojo’s death got angry and wanted to protest against the actions of the policemen but the family calmed them down.
When SaharaReporters contacted the spokesperson for Ekiti State Police Command, DSP Sunday Abutu, denied the role allegedly played by the policemen in the death of Ojo.
He said, “This could be termed ‘a lie from the pit of hell’ as no such incident or report was made in any of our stations across the state, not even the headquarters.
“The only vehicle that was confiscated by our surveillance team from Ikere Area Command on Wednesday night was an unregistered Toyota Camry 2006 model car. The driver had no document and could not give satisfactory proof that the vehicle belonged to him, but then offered to go home and get the documents.
“Up till this moment, the driver did not bring the car documents or come for his vehicle. It should be noted that our surveillance teams do not have or create checkpoints.
“No soldier’s death was reported by anybody or family or the military authority in the state in Ikere Area Command or any of our divisions or formations across the state in recent time and nobody has come to solicit for the release of the said Toyota Camry car.”
“Meanwhile, anyone with any genuine complaint against the conduct of our men should feel free to approach the nearest police station, formation, office of the PPRO or office of the Commissioner of Police for necessary and immediate action,” Abutu added.
Soldier dies while ‘rushing to rescue brother arrested by policemen’
metro
Bandits attack Matawalle’s hometown in Zamfara kill one, kidnap many
Bandits attack Matawalle’s hometown in Zamfara kill one, kidnap many
Rampaging bandits operating in North-West Nigeria have attacked Maradun town, the headquarters of Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara, killing one person and kidnapping several others.
Maradun is the hometown of Bello Matawalle, the former governor of the state and present Minister of State for Defence in the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government.
Although, police authorities in the state are yet to comment on the latest incident an indigene of the town Nura Maradun told Channels Television that the bandits stormed the town around 1 am on Friday with sophisticated weapons.
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He said they fired indiscriminately to scare residents. According to him, the bandits went from house to house to abduct residents of the town.
“They came in around 1 am and operated till 4 am unchallenged. They went on to search house by house looking for people to be kidnapped,” he said.
“From what I can confirm to you now, one person was killed, and about eight persons most women have been taken away. Some of the women kidnapped are daughters of the Emir’s brother.”
Bandits attack Matawalle’s hometown in Zamfara kill one, kidnap many
metro
Eight illegal security guards arrested in Anambra
Eight illegal security guards arrested in Anambra
The Anambra command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), says it has arrested eight suspected unlicensed private security guards with four pump action guns.
During the parade of the suspects in Awka, the state capital on Thursday, Olatunde Maku, the NSCDC state commandant, said the arrest was made in response to intelligence reports.
Maku added that the suspects are currently undergoing investigation, after which they would be charged to court and prosecuted.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that some of the suspects were impersonating the Anambra Vigilance Group while others were hired by hotels to provide security services, in spite of knowing that the outfits were not licensed or registered,” NAN quoted the NSCDC commandant as saying.
“Meanwhile, four pump action guns with 16 live cartridges were also recovered from them.
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“All the suspects are currently undergoing investigation, after which they would be charged to court and prosecuted.
“This raid is in continuation of the execution of the NSCDC mandate and we will not leave any stone unturned in discharging our responsibilities.
Maku said that the NSCDC is the only agency responsible for licensing, monitoring, and supervising private securities companies in Nigeria, and the raid aims to prevent illegal security outfit proliferation.
The commandant urged licensed private guard companies to adhere to the law and report any suspicious activities or security outfits to the Corps for prompt action.
“I want to put all illegal security outfits on notice to dismantle their operations or face the consequences.
“We will clamp down on any illegal outfit, arrest and prosecute their operators, and recover illegal weapons in their possession.
“This is to restore sanity in the operations of the private security sector and ensure the safety and security of residents.”
Eight illegal security guards arrested in Anambra
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