A 22 – year- old man , Oluwadamilare Temenu , has reportedly stabbed a
technician with the Ikeja Electric, Oluwaseyi Amao, for disconnecting
power supply to his residence at No. 13 Adesanya Street, in the Mafoluku
area of Oshodi , Lagos State.
Report gathered that Amao and his
colleague , Yusuf Tunde, had acted on a disconnection order by the
management of Ikeja Electric, an electricity distribution company, which
had marked some flats in the building for disconnection over unpaid
bills , when they were attacked .
Amao, who said he gave the
residents a month ’s grace to pay their outstanding bills , added that
he was surprised that one of them would attack him for disconnecting
power supply to his apartment despite owing over N 300,000 .
The
42 – year- old technician said , “ We were given a disconnection order
to execute at No . 13 Adesanya Street, Mafoluku , Oshodi, last Thursday .
The building has four flats; one flat has a prepaid meter, while the
remaining three are on estimated billing; but we were given a
disconnection order on the two flats with over N 200, 000 and N 100, 000
debts, respectively.
“ Before that day , I had visited the house
for disconnection last month and one of the residents , the one using
prepaid meter, had pledged to speak with the others to pay their debts ,
because it was only one wire that supplies power to the four flats. If
we cut off the wire , the whole flats will be affected , including the
one with prepaid meter, but they still refused to pay .
“ So, on
the day I was instructed to execute the disconnection order , I
explained to the residents, including the guy who stabbed me , that I
was there the previous month and that since they had refused to clear
their outstanding bills , I had been instructed to disconnect power
supply to their apartment . He never argued with me , but I was
surprised that he said I was looking for trouble when he saw me climbing
the pole .
“ All of a sudden , he went inside his flat , brought
out a crate of bottles and broke two bottles. I quickly jumped down and
he chased after me and stabbed me . He first stabbed me in the neck and
head; to avoid more harm , I held him tightly and told my colleague ,
Tunde, to inform our other colleagues to bring a vehicle so that we
could take him to the police station. ”
His other colleagues eventually brought a vehicle , which conveyed Temenu to the police station.
An eyewitness , Segun Gbenro, said residents of the area condemned Temenu for stabbing Amao while performing his duty .
“
About two weeks ago , he (Temenu ) had a fight in the area and he
stripped himself Unclad . He had no reason to stab the IE official ;
even the people he lives with faulted his action and other residents of
the area also condemned his action, ” he stated .
The Public
Relations Officer , Ikeja Electric , Felix Ofulue , who condemned the
attack , said the firm would explore all necessary means to bring to
justice any person or group, who took the law into their own hands by
inflicting bodily harm on its officials when performing their duties .
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