By Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti
Residents of Abuja Quarters in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, have cried to the security agencies and management of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over alleged extortion arising from the theft of the almond cable, which residents are forced to contribute money to buy before light is restored to their community.
In a petition to the Ekiti State Police Command and copied to the State Director of DSS, Electrity Consumers Protection Office and management of the company in Ado-Ekiti, the residents complained that barely two months ago, residents contributed N900,000 to buy new materials to replace the very expensive stolen almond cable after two months in darkness.
According to the residents, the N900, 000 is besides other costs totalling more than Ni million that “we coughed out two months ago to solve the problem before we could be reconnected to have light”.
They added: “Surprisingly, the transformer point where these materials were stolen is located in a well-guarded police residential estate with a security gate along NTA road where nobody, except BEDC technicians on official duty, can access to do their job.
“More surprising is that it will take a minimum of two hours before these materials can be disconnected for evacuation from the location.
“Again, the almond cable is so heavy that it will take no fewer than six people to lift it from the ground and the security barricade is so high that such heavy material cannot be lifted from the place without causing damage to the walls of the high fence. Yet the entire wall is intact after the theft.
“This is the third time that we are experiencing this unfortunate incident, forcing residents to contribute money to replace stolen items costing more than one million naira and so we are tired of these incessant thefts that force residents to cough out their hard-earned money.”
According to the residents, so painful is that BEDC computes monthly bills for the residents through prohibitive estimated billings, and residents are often coerced to pay for the service not rendered.
The residents said they suspected that BEDC technicians are behind the theft.
The petition explained: “Yesterday, when we got to the Ajilosun office of BEDC, some of the company’s technicians on sighting us took to their heels and we wondered why they behaved this way.
“Few minutes later, one of us heard one of the technicians in hiding asking a bystander whether the protesters are still in the premises. Why are they running and what are they running from?
“We call on the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, security agencies and management of BEDC in Ekiti State to rescue us from what we believe is a heartless extortion, to continue to pay for the stolen almond cable belonging to BEDC that painfully overcharges us through estimated billings for the service not rendered.”
The residents also urged the security agencies to investigate this matter to bring perpetrators of the crime to book to serve as a deterrent to curb such nefarious activity.