The invasion of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company’s headquarters by Nigerian Air Force personnel has sparked outrage from the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors.
The unexpected attack, which occurred on Thursday, March 6, at the company’s office in Alausa, Ikeja, was carried out by personnel from the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
ANED has, therefore, called on the Nigerian Air Force, military, and Presidency to identify and hold accountable those responsible for the attack which has sparked widespread condemnation.
Persecondnews had reported that the officers forcibly gained entry to the building, located opposite MITV at about 7:40 am and assaulted staff and some journalists.
A viral video captured military personnel brandishing weapons on the premises, with over seven staff members forced to kneel, while others were physically assaulted.
Doors to offices were destroyed while computers, phones and CCTV gadgets were allegedly carted away.
The attack was prompted by the disconnection of their base over a N4.3 billion electricity debt.
However, in an interview on TVC on Friday, the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy of ANED, Mr. Sunday Oduntan, said the Air Officer Commanding Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal AK Ademulegun, could not feign ignorance of the attack.
Oduntan, who is also the spokesman of all the DisCos, vowed to pursue justice relentlessly until those responsible are held accountable.
He said that the debt of the Ikeja Air Force Base is N4.3bn, and no attempt was made to settle the debt.
He said: “I want to believe that we are in a sane country. I still want to believe that we are 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 role, 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.”
Oduntan likened the invasion to a coup against all DisCos, urging the nation’s political leaders to treat the incident with the seriousness it deserves.
Oduntan, who described the experience as traumatic, said: “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.”
He added: “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.
“They did not want us to see their faces from the CCTV, so they took the database away. There must be full restoration.”
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