Soldiers attack Eko DisCo over light out

By Ologeh Joseph Chibu

Soldiers from the Nigerian Army have attacked an office of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko DisCo) in Badagry, Lagos State, over a power outage.

Sources told Irohinoodua that the incident occurred around midnight last weekend

The attack came barely a week after armed men from the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base in Ikeja attacked the headquarters of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company in Alausa, Lagos, assaulting staff and journalists while vandalizing property worth billions of naira.

Nigerians have bee on edge due to lack of efficiency and the prevalence of corruption and abuse of privileges by energy providers accused of arbitrary billing, lack of transparency and outright frustration of already over stretched citizenry.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Sunday Oduntan, confirmed the latest attack, expressing concern over the growing trend of military invasions of power distribution offices.

“While we are yet to recover from the brutalisation of Ikeja Electric staff and vandalisation of the head office by the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Army has invaded the Eko Disco’s Injection Substation in Badagry at 1 am on the 14th of March 2025,” Oduntan said.

Oduntan was also on TV early this week raising complaints about the assault. Initially when the issue was discussed, majority of callers on Radio and TV have supported the attacks by soldiers with the argument that the energy providers are no different from “street rogues” given their culture of extortion and extremely poor customer relations something Oduntan tried to dodge.

A top civil servant who does not wish to be named told Irohinoodua that the energy providers are “not competent” and are largely driven by primitive accumulation of wealth urging the Federal Government to take over the DISCOS.

“They are good in extortion. They have no human feelings and are cruel.How do you explain their billing a burnt house which owner had relocated from the building. For six months they were bringing bills. Yet, the house got burnt because of power surge,” he said.

Oduntan however alleged that the soldiers abducted two staff members and took them to the Nigerian Army’s 15th Field Engineers Regiment barracks in Topo Town, Badagry.

“The abducted personnel included the Distribution Substation Operator (DSO) and a Proton Security Officer who were on duty at the time,” he stated.

According to Oduntan, the soldiers’ grievance was related to poor electricity supply to their barracks over the past week. However, he explained that the outage resulted from an ongoing Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) upgrade in Agbara, which had already been communicated to their Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. S. Lawan.

“At one point, we made all efforts to restore power to the barracks, but the feeder went off due to excessive load,” Oduntan added.

He further claimed that the abducted staff were released at 4 a.m. after allegedly being subjected to torture.

Repeated Attacks Raise Concern

In an interview, Eko DisCo’s spokesperson, Babatunde Lasaki, described the incident as unfortunate and noted that attacks on electricity distribution companies by security forces appear to be escalating, with no significant action taken against previous offenders.

“The soldiers attacked our office at night. They went to one of our stations in Badagry and abducted two of our staff members. Though they were released later in the day, the fact that military personnel stormed our premises and forcibly took our workers is unacceptable,” Lasaki said.

He also alleged that the soldiers returned later on Friday, issuing threats and demanding the immediate restoration of power to the barracks. Despite efforts by the company’s staff to explain that the outage was due to a fault and not a deliberate act, the soldiers reportedly continued to harass them.

Lasaki confirmed that the company’s legal team has reported the incident to the police and is preparing to petition the Chief of Army Staff, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Power, and other relevant authorities.

“This is becoming a dangerous trend. The attack on Ikeja DisCo workers last week went unpunished, and now we are experiencing a similar incident. As far as I know, no one has been court-martialed for the Ikeja attack. If this impunity continues, more incidents will follow. Power distribution is part of a value chain, and attacking DisCo employees will not solve supply issues,” he added.

Nigerian Army Denies Allegations

When contacted, the Nigerian Army’s Director of Information, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, refuted the claims of abduction and torture. He described the incident as a minor misunderstanding that arose after a fire broke out at an Eko DisCo facility located within the barracks.

“I have reached out to the unit, and contrary to the report, no Eko DisCo staff was detained by soldiers. Rather, a fire broke out when power was restored after a prolonged outage. Soldiers on duty worked with the company’s personnel to extinguish the flames.

“During the response efforts, there was a minor misunderstanding between a company staff member and one of the soldiers, but it was promptly resolved amicably. The unit leadership and the company’s management have maintained a strong and cordial relationship, which remains unchanged,” Nwachukwu stated.

He added that the unit’s Commanding Officer has established a Board of Inquiry to investigate the cause of the fire.