Amid increasing spate of attacks on Ikeja Electric (IE) workers, a middle-aged man, Abiodun Makinde, has been arrested and remanded in Kirikiri Maximum Prisons for beating up Oluwaseun Onate, an employee of the electricity distribution company.. PUNCH Metro gathered that Onate was effecting a disconnection order on customers who defaulted in the payment of their bills when Makinde reportedly attacked him.
Makinde, who was said to have fled the scene of the attack, was later arrested at his hideout following an organised search by operatives of the command. Following his arrest, Makinde was arraigned before the Ogba Magistrates’ Court on two counts of assault and breach of peace. While he pleaded not guilty to the charges, the presiding magistrate, Mrs Dan Oni, granted him bail and ordered that he should be remanded in the Kirikiri Prison until the bail conditions were met.
The case was thereafter adjourned till March 14, 2019, for further hearing.Similarly, 22-year-old Rotimi Bamigbade has been remanded in prison for allegedly conniving with four others to attack another f Ikeja Electric worker. PUNCH Metro learnt that Bamigbade and four others still at large had on February 18, 2019, allegedly used bottles and sticks to physically assault and dispossess an Ikeja Electric linesman, Oluwatoyo David, of his personal property at Ajasa Command in the Ipaja area of the state.
Bamigbade was arraigned before Mrs. A. A. Adetunji, sitting at Court 14, Ogba Magistrates’ Court, on five counts bordering on conspiracy, breach of peace, obstruction of official duty, assault occasioning harm and stealing. The charges read in part, “That you, Rotimi Bamigbade, and others now at large, on February 18, 2019, around 11am, in the Ikeja Magisterial District, did obstruct a staff member of Ikeja Electric, one Oluwatoyo David, while discharging his duty, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 117 (2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2015.
“That you, Rotimi Bamigbade, and others now at large, on the same day, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did steal an iPhone 5x, valued at N110,000; Povour 2, valued at N72,000; wristwatch, valued at N5,000; and N10,000, all valued at N197,000, property of Oluwatoyo David, a staff member of Ikeja Electric, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2015.”
He pleaded guilty to all the charges except stealing was remanded in the Ikoyi Prison, while the case was adjourned till Monday, March 18, 2019, for further hearing. Also arrested for similar offences were Kazeem Owoleye, who allegedly assaulted two workers of the IE; Ohere Leonard and Paul Emmanuel, on Rilwan Lawal Street in the Lowa Estate area of Ikorodu, Lagos State. Owoleye was arraigned before Mrs T. A. Azeez of the Ikorodu Magistrates’ Court 1 on two counts.He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was subsequently granted bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties. Owoleye was, however, remanded in the Kirikiri Prison pending the perfection of his bail conditions.
The Head, Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric, Felix Ofulue, said the company had sought redress in the courts to curtail the incessant assault on its workers and to serve as a deterrent to others who might want to commit similar offences in the future.
Ofulue said, “The decision to seek redress in court over the series of attacks on the company’s staff members is to stem the menace of violence against its staff, a development we hope will serve as a deterrent to other offenders.
“We urge aggrieved customers to seek peaceful means and use the redress mechanism established by the company for the resolution of issues.”
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Source: Punch