A worker
with the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Dele Ogundele, has been
hospitalised after he was allegedly brutalised by a police sergeant attached to
a hous
e reportedly owned by a former Inspector- General of Police, Mohammed
Abubakar .
PUNCH Metro
learnt that the mobile policeman , Attah Aninoko, on Thursday dragged down
Ogundele from an electric pole opposite the house and beat him up for
disconnecting power to the house of the former IG .
Ogundele’ s
leg was allegedly broken by the sergeant, who was reported to have boasted that
“ nothing will happen . ”
The matter
was said to have been reported to the police at the Ikoyi division and the
sergeant was arrested.
The Head of
Corporate Communications Department, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (
EKEDC) , Mr . Godwin Idemudia, who confirmed the incident, said the sergeant
had been detained .
He explained
that the house of the former IG owed a bill of N 154, 693. 85, adding that the
name on the bill was one Yusuf .
He said , “
What we do is that anytime customers don’ t respond and pay their bills, we go
out with copies of their bills . When we get to their houses , we tell them
what they owe and ask if they had made any payment in the last 24 hours. If
they can’ t produce any evidence of such , we disconnect their electricity .
“ That was
what we did in this case . We had two of our vehicles working in the area on
that day . On getting to the house around 12noon on Thursday, October 19, a man
came out and we asked for evidence of payment because we discovered that the
house owed over N 154, 000. When he couldn’ t produce it, we said we would
disconnect the power . The man flared up.
“ The mobile
policeman came out, and while our official was disconnecting the power from the
pole , he ordered him to come down. In fact , he dragged the official down and
beat him up. In the process , the official sustained injuries and his left leg
was broken . ”
Idemudia
said because the policeman was armed , other officials of the electricity
distribution company were helpless and could only watch their colleague being
brutalised.
He said
policemen from the Ikoyi division were alerted and the cop was arrested.
Ogundele was said to have been taken to a hospital.
“ When he
was taken to the station, he started boasting that nothing would come out of
the case .
“ We believe
that nobody is above the law .
The case
should not be swept under the carpet . The Divisional Police Officer has
assured us that justice would be served , ” he added .
The Police
Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous -Cole, denied that Ogundele’ s
leg was broken , adding that the power company was being mischievous .
He said , “
This people know that the property belongs to a former civil servant and they
are just trying to be mischievous .
“ They came
and said the house owed some bills and before the residents could go in to bring
out their record, they had cut off power . There were policemen in the area and
they tried to intervene.
“ There was
nobody that suffered any broken leg or any injury . Care should be taken not to
damage the good name of the former civil servant . The DPO is trying to mediate
and the case is under investigation. ”
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