Some personnel from the Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday attacked workers at the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), following the ongoing face-off over disconnection of power supply to the base.
A correspondent of PUNCH Newspapers, Dare Olawin, was reportedly assaulted by the armed military men.
There had been growing tension between the IKEDC and the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base, Ikeja, over the duration of the power supply disconnection.
The Sam Ethnan Air Force Base, Ikeja, has been without power for two weeks following its disconnection by the Ikeja Electric over an unpaid debt running into millions of naira.
It was also learnt that an agreement was reached for the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to pay IKEDC a monthly sum of ₦60 million to ensure a daily electricity supply of 10 to 12 hours to the base.
The Airforce base is said to be worried that a prolonged power outage was “compromising the base’s safety and security.”
However, some military men armed and led by a woman allegedly attacked the headquarters of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company opposite MITV , Ikeja, Lagos around 7:40 am.
They reportedly entered the office of Ikeja Electric for over one and a half hours, beating the staff and other people sighted.
The roads leading to the office were blocked, leaving them to operate unchecked.
In a viral video, staff members were kneeling while others were assaulted, as they were forced to undergo the treatment.
Printers, closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, and other equipment were damaged.
The personnel reportedly left the office with engineers and drivers who they said would be forced to reconnect their barracks.
PUNCH’s Olawin who was at the office to attend an event at Adiyan was not spared in the attack.
The military men sighted Olawin alongside a TVC cameraman and one other reporter in a coaster bus.
Olawin said they were beaten and made to sit on the floor.
According to him, his Android phone, a small Itel phone and a white power bank were taken away by the men who threatened to shoot him if he tried to say anything.
“I was seriously beaten,” Olawin said in a chat with our correspondent.
The Ikeja Electric’s Head of Corporate Communications, Kingsley Okotie, has not responded to enquiry from our correspondent as of the time of this report.
