The Nigerian military is escalating its recklessly violent and illegal attacks on electricity distribution companies. It intensified its impunity and lawlessness at the weekend when soldiers invaded an EKO Electricity Distribution Company complex in Badagry, Lagos.
In a democracy, this is highly condemnable. The invasion of the DisCo facility reinforces the impression of the Nigerian military as uncontrollable and lawless. The situation festers like cancer because the Federal Government has failed to bring the belligerent officers to book. So, President Bola Tinubu must urgently halt this violent unruliness.
Less than two weeks after the Nigerian Air Force officers stormed the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company in Lagos over the disconnection of the Sam Ethnan Airforce Base, Ikeja, soldiers of the Nigerian Army invaded an EKO DisCo complex over a power outage at its barracks. This is oppressive and counterproductive because brute force does not generate electricity.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Chris Musa; the Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, and the Chief of Air Staff, Hasan Abubakar, must be held accountable for the growing impunity.
EKO DisCo’s Head of Corporate Communications, Babatunde Lasaki, said, “The soldiers attacked our office at night. They went to one of our stations in Badagry and picked two of our staff (members). Although they released them later in the day, the fact that they went there and abducted our workers is unfortunate. Later on Friday, they went there again, threatening that we should restore their supply. Our workers tried to explain to them that it was a fault and that the outage was not deliberate, but they continued to harass our workers.”
Such anarchic behaviour by the Army is a gross violation of human rights, undermines democracy, and further damages Nigeria’s reputation as an uneasy business environment. In the 2020 Ease of Doing Business report, the World Bank ranked Nigeria 131st out of 190 economies.
More troubling is the disposition of the Army Director of Information, Onyema Nwachukwu. His attempt to downplay the attack as a mere “minor disagreement” highlights a culture of untrammelled violence, self-conceit, and arrogance. Unfortunately, Nwachukwu fails to grasp the gravity of these incidents as gross human rights violations.
The military has continued to ride roughshod on civilians and private enterprises. Its new sport is DisCos because the Commander-in-Chief and the military chiefs handled previous and recurrent brutalities with levity and false conciliation.
Worse still, the absence of punitive measures against the Nigeria Air Force personnel who invaded the Ikeja DisCo emboldened the Army in its lawlessness.
The military seems to have retained the culture of tyranny from the shadows of its dark days of despotic rule despite the restoration of democracy in 1999. Human rights violations, killings, traffic violations, disobedience of court orders, brutal retaliations, incinerating police stations, and brutality have become the norm.
The violent disruption of business activity is not an alternative to conflict resolution in a democracy. Disputes are meant to be resolved through suasions and legal mechanisms, not through might or the barrel of a gun.
The military’s actions indicate a dangerous erosion of discipline, and disobedience of international standard operating procedures to engage civilians. The military should have expressed its grievances through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission or legal redress.
In the earlier attack, NAF personnel brutalised staff, passersby, and persons on Ikeja DisCo premises, citing the disconnection of electricity at the Sam Ethnan Base.
Their victims included innocent journalists from The PUNCH, The Guardian, and The Nation newspapers and other media houses.
The unruly officers seized the work tools of Dare Olawin, The PUNCH reporter, made him sit on bare ground, and threatened to shoot him if he said any word!
The IKEDC had disconnected the base over an alleged N4.35 billion electricity debt. Reports stated that officers refused Ikeja DisCo staff access to the base to install prepaid meters.
In Nigeria, the military is notorious for human rights violations, despite its denials.
The military retaliated against the killing of 17 soldiers in the Okuama community by laying siege there, setting homes ablaze, and arresting its community leaders in March 2024. The Okuama leaders were detained for a prolonged period without trial.
In August 2023, the military beat up 15 LASTMA officials for apprehending military personnel for traffic violations in Lagos.
In February 2023, soldiers without name tags stormed the Ogijo Police Station in Ogun State and set the station ablaze. The incident reportedly occurred after an altercation between a police officer and a soldier.
The Odi massacre is still fresh in the memory. In 1999, the military troops invaded Odi, Bayelsa State. They slaughtered 900 unarmed civilians and levelled houses in the community after the murder of some police officers. In 2013, a court ordered the Federal Government to pay the community N37.6 billion in damages.
The military did not learn its lessons. In 2021, troops invaded Zaki-Biam in the Taraba-Benue borders and massacred over 200 unarmed Tiv civilians. The Tiv and Jukun were engaged in communal violence.
The military is still living in denial that it attacked the peaceful #EndSARS protests by youths against police brutality in October 2020 at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos.
The military has no excuse for its lawlessness. In May 2013, two Nigerians, Michael Adebolajo, and Michael Adebowale, hacked Lee Rigby, a British Army soldier to death in front of the Woolwich barracks, in London. It was the police that attended the case and charged it to court. The military should adopt this sensible lesson.
Nigeria’s electricity crisis is systemic, not the fault of a single DisCo. Nigerians have encountered incessant national grid collapses, infrastructure vandalism, and generation shortfalls. Even Aso Rock is not immune to these dark challenges. It is naïve of the military to think it will enjoy a constant electricity supply in a country of 233 million people generating 5,000 megawatts.
Although Tinubu’s administration has stressed its commitment to attracting foreign investment and improving Nigeria’s business climate, no serious investor would commit resources to a country where security agencies violently enforce self-adjudicated or extrajudicial justice against private capital.
Henceforth, the Tinubu government and military chiefs must devise strong and unpalatable reprimands for uncivil and recalcitrant soldiers. This attack on EKO DisCo—just as it did Ikeja Electric—indicates a failure to learn from past mistakes. It sets a precedent that weakens the rule of law.
First, those responsible for these attacks must be identified and prosecuted.
Second, clear directives must be issued to military personnel, reinforcing the rule of law and the consequences of illegal actions.
Third, an independent oversight mechanism should be employed to ensure military accountability.
As an institution, the military can generate electricity for itself. This will defuse tensions. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery operates with its 435MW.
The military must protect Nigerians, not harass, and intimidate them. Tinubu must act now.
