Residents Arraigned For Beating Electricity Worker On Duty

The Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday arraigned two residents of Orile Oko-Oba, in the Agege area of the state before an Ogba Magistrate’s Court for allegedly assaulting an official of an electricity distribution company, Ikeja Electric.

The men were charged with four counts of assault and causing breach of public peace.

The charges read in part, “That you, Odewale Jamiu, Fatai Saheed, and others at large, on September 20, 2022, around 10.45am, at Oko-Oba Road, Agege, Lagos, in the Ikeja Magisterial District, did conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause breach of the peace by engaging some Ikeja Electric staff while performing their lawful duty.

That you, Odewale Jamiu, Fatai Saheed, and others at large, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did assault one Omotosho Olugbenga a worker of Ikeja Electric, that led to the hospitalisation…”

The defendants pleaded not guilty.

The Chief Magistrate, L.A. Owolabi, granted them bail in the sum of N250,000 with two sureties each in like sum, and adjourned the matter till November 15 for mention.

Meanwhile, placard-bearing residents, who gathered in front of the court, accused the Ikeja Electric undertaking manager who supervised fee collection in the area, Tajudeen Musa, of harassing them with policemen.

Inscriptions on the placards included, ‘IKEDC is scam,’ ‘Using police to threaten the community and shooting at community members,’ ‘Stop estimated billing,’ among others.

Residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told PUNCH correspondent that the undertaking manager used policemen to harass them to pay their bills.

A member of the community association said, “They brought a fee of N110,000 to my house. They have been doing like that for months. They also brought the police to shoot at us after we protested against their extortion.”

Another resident said, “We are tired of how Ikeja Electric is treating us. They will even bring police when they want to collect their fees. They’ll harass us and sometimes shoot.”