OVER what is described as contempt of court order, Mr Uzor McGodwins Achi, the Yenagoa District Business Manager of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED), narrowly escaped three months imprisonment for contravening subsisting court order by a Magistrate Court sitting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
Achi had been summoned by the court presided over by Magistrate Ebitari Timi to show cause why he would not be punished for carrying out mass disconnection of Airtel Mast Road in Biogbolo,Yenagoa, despite an existing order of the court to maintain status quo.
Residents of the area represented by the Community Light Committee had dragged PHED before the court to challenge the exorbitant estimated electricity bills charged them by the company.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Friday, Mr Chucks Egbulonu, lawyer to the Biogbolo community, had told the court that after the last adjournment on April 13, the PHED accompanied by many armed security operatives went ahead to disconnect the residents, throwing the entire area into darkness for several weeks.
Egbulonu said the action of PHED amounted to unwarranted self-help while the matter was already before the court challenging the extraordinary estimated bills against the residents, arguing that such action is “a wilful disrespect to the court, Bayelsa judiciary, and contemptuous”.
He submitted that the action of PHED contravened the bargain before the court in the interim, and the regulations of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) which warn against mass disconnection by Distribution Companies (DISCOs).
When asked by the magistrate to give reasons for the mass disconnection of the Biogbolo community despite the subsisting order of the court, Achi who did not deny the company’s action, ignorantly told the court that he wanted to save loss and that there was no court order stopping him from cutting off the residents.
Magistrate Timi, who described the action of PHED’s action as “appalling and contemptuous”, told Achi that the offence could earn him three months in prison but he tampered justice with mercy and ordered the restoration of power to the affected residents within 48 hours.
However, counsel to PHED, Mr C Njoku, pleaded with the court to extend the period to Tuesday next week which the court obliged.
The magistrate, therefore, adjourned the matter to Thursday August 17 for hearing of report of the order issued to PHED.
Pastor Ken Uti, the Light Committee Chairman in the area, who commended the ruling of the court, said the residents of Airtel Mast Road filed the case against PHED to challenge the outrageous estimated billings on the residents.
He lamented that a one bedroom flat in the area pays N13, 000 monthly as against N2, 500 previously billed.
Uti said they were shocked when officials of the PHEDC stormed the area with security personnel to carry out mass disconnections three months ago even when the matter was already in court.
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