IT would be quite an understatement to say that pandemonium reigned at the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) penultimate Thursday when soldiers armed to the teeth stormed the company’s offices in Lagos, assaulting staff members in a brutal show of force that recalled the dark days of military rule. The soldiers bulldozed their way into the company’s headquarters near MITV in Ikeja at around 7:40 a.m. and staged a similar invasion at the IKEDC office on Ago Palace Way, Okota, Isolo, Lagos. As captured on video, the rampaging soldiers forced the IKEDC staff members to kneel on the ground while they hovered over them. Since the invasion came after the company disconnected power supply to the Nigerian Air Force logistics base in Ikeja, it was quite apparent that it was an act of retaliation. According to the IKEDC spokesperson, Kingsley Okotie, the soldiers arrived at the office with a truck around 8 a.m. and began flogging employees. The soldiers, who were from the Sam Ethnan Barracks, Ikeja, he said, “came in with their truck, beating our staff. They even took my laptop, and now most staff can’t find their phones since they left.” Saying that the military base had been disconnected from electricity 10 days previously due to an outstanding debt of over N4 billion, Okotie lamented: “They molested and assaulted our staff. They went away with about 16 of our vehicles, forcing our drivers to move them. They destroyed all our offices, stole laptops and phones, and damaged our IT infrastructure, even disabling all our CCTV cameras.”
Following the incident, the leadership of the base held a meeting with the IKEDC wherein it apologised profusely for the embarrassing incident and promised to ensure that the perpetrators were punished. Sadly, however, members of another branch of the armed forces, namely men of the Nigerian Army’s 15th Field Engineers Regiment in Topo Town, Badagry, replicated the act of brigandage. The soldiers allegedly stormed the Badagry Injection Substation of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco), abducting two staff members on March 14. Sunday Oduntan, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), said that the soldiers took the Distribution System Operator (DSO) and a Proton Security Officer to their barracks, where they were beaten before being released at around 4 a.m. He added: “Their claim was poor electricity supply to their barracks in the last one week despite the fact that their Commanding Officer, Lt Col S. Lawan was duly informed of the ongoing Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) upgrade in Agbara.”
This spectre of violence is, of course, all too familiar. To cite just one example, in March 2016, soldiers attached to the 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala Barracks, Abeokuta, Ogun State beat up one of the workers of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over “poor power supply.” The soldiers numbering about six and led by one Major Musa reportedly stormed the Olumo business hub, Rounder substation of IBEDC and found the substation’s distribution officer, Salau Adekunle, on whom they descended with horse whips.
Given the spate of attacks on workers in the electricity distribution companies (DisCos), it would be tempting to conclude that this is a deliberate action by the military leadership. But that is not the case. This is just a case of certain errant officers and men visiting violence on innocent DisCo workers and doing their level best to drag the military profession into disrepute. To the best of our knowledge, there is no policy of any of the branches of the armed forces that recommends violence as a solution to power cuts following unpaid electricity bills. Certainly, there are lawless individuals in the armed forces, but it would be unfair to tar the officers and men of the armed forces who are conducting their affairs in accordance with the laws of the land with the same brush. That is why the leadership of the military must do everything within its power not only to arrest and punish the perpetrators of the violence in Ikeja and Badagry and other places but also to retrain and reorientate members of the services away from the mental inheritance from military rule that sees the civilian populace as subhuman and vastly inferior species. The way certain soldiers and officers carry on, it is as if they expect the civil populace to worship them and cater to their every whim. This cannot be the way to grow or strengthen a democratic society.
To say the very least, the attacks on IKEDC and Eko Disco are barbaric, inhuman and wicked. Who authorised the invasion? The officers who sanctioned the raid and those who carried them out should be arrested and dealt with based on the rules and regulations of the services. It is also within the rights of the affected DisCos to press charges. There is due process for the expression of grievances, and the fact that it was not explored in the cases referenced here reflects very badly on the military and its leadership. The invasions are made worse by the fact that most Nigerians even believe that the DisCos are exploitative and would sympathise with the military if it complained of being shortchanged. Nigerians are certainly not enamoured of the DisCos. But the way the rampaging soldiers went about expressing whatever grievance they had was repugnant. It defied and scoffed at the democratic system of government and the laws of the land. Will soldiers invade DisCo offices anytime there is a power cut? How are the DisCos to survive when their bills are not paid?
If soldiers are sick and tired of DisCo bills, nothing stops them from exploring other means of power generation, like the use of solar energy. Military might should be visited on the enemies of the Nigerian State, not innocent civilians. We would really hate to see the invasions recur. Nigerians certainly would.
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