Agonies of PHCN workers...lament over serial attack on staff

Emeka Ibemere

 It was on Thursday April 25 2013. Everything was going on well. Their earlier morning devotion has taken place, and they where exchanging banters with one another, as greetings were been shared.

Inside office of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) along Abaranje Road by Custom Bus stop Ikotun in Alimosho Local Government Area, Lagos, some workers were taking their breakfast from the table of a woman food vendor who sat prettily well, and like a chef, allocating portions accordingly.

At the extreme left of the office, consumers of electricity supply queued to pay their month of March bills as they were busy attending to their customers.

Then suddenly, a Danfo-mini- bus crammed with over 20 rag-tag men who were armed with dangerous weapons and reeking in alcohol and cigarette smokes screeched to a halt at the popular Custom Bus Stop, along Abaranje Road and before you could shout: ‘UP NEPA’! , descended on over 30 officers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

There was chaos as workers took long distance race and high jumps to escape the fracas. It was topsy-turvy scene as shouts for help rented the air. A police officer who ventured to intervene was beaten black and blue as he couldn’t prevent the goons from carrying out their hired job.  

By the time the 30 minutes Boko-Haram- like- attack ended, glass windows and doors, plastic chairs and tables belonging to PHCN have been destroyed. Some of the workers allegedly sustained various degrees of injuries. Within 30 minutes of the action, the miscreants have finished their jobs and disappeared into thin air.

Who did it?

PHCN workers points to the direction of the Supervisory Councillor for Labour in Ikotun Council of Alimosho Area of Lagos State.

Daily Newswatch gathered that the suspect hired 30 miscreants to attack local electricity workers forcing the officers of the PHCN, in the area to close work.

A senior staff of the organization said the man; a supervisory councillor for Labour stormed the office of the PHCN with 30 miscreants and armed to the teeth attacked the staffers of the organization in military style.

 It was gathered that by the time the attackers left the office, over 12 workers had sustain several degrees of injuries, including a policeman who came for their rescue.  Clutching machetes and broken bottles; the rag-tag ‘area boys’ as they are fondly called in Lagos, stormed the working place of the electric workers and left their victims in pains with machete cuts.

The councillor, known as Arizona was said to owe PHCN of over N25, 000 bills and that his light was disconnected by the PHCN workers on debt drive but that the man illegally reconnect ted his light back without having to pay PHCN.

However, when the PHCN revisited the residential house of the councillor a week after, they equally disconnected the light for the second time and took the wires to their office.

On returning back to his house and seeing that the light has been disconnected again, he hired his thugs in Ikotun and on that fateful morning, stormed the Abaranje office of the PHCN and allegedly attacked them with dangerous weapons.

When Daily Newswatch visited the office on Friday April 26, it observed that the glass Almaco windows and doors of the office were smashed and their chairs broken into pieces.

When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer DPO, in Ikotun was not on seat to confirm the incident but a woman police on the desk confirmed the incident but requested not to be mentioned in the story.

She said the councillor has been arrested while his thugs are on the run. According to the woman police, the injured policeman was receiving treatment in an undisclosed private hospital in Ikotun.

She said the councillor would be prosecuted for attacking a policeman on duty and for allegedly destroying PHCN office while causing harmful injuries on government workers who were carrying out their national responsibilities.

Those who know Arizona very well said he is not only a councillor but also an aide to Mrs. Morenike Adesina Williams, the Local Government Chairman of Ikotun and is one man who is well known among thugs. Everybody in Ikotun fears him and as far as Ikotun is concerned nothing is going to come out of his purported arrest by the police.
PHCN workers of recent have being an object of attacks over failure of the Government to have constant power supply in the country. Most of the attacks are coming from those wielding political power and seating in positions of authority. It would be recalled that the Nigeria Labour Congress earlier this year called on the Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, to apologize for the violation of the human rights of a worker of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) whom he had flogged to a coma, or face a solidarity action by all of the state’s workers.
In a press statement signed by its President, Abdulwahed Omar, the NLC recalled that the National Union of Electricity Employees had asked the Governor to apologise but that Governor Wamakko had arrogantly ignored the demand, resulting in the total black out being experienced in the State for about a week.
“This is absolutely unacceptable in any decent society, and an uncivilized, undemocratic behaviour least expected of anyone elected to serve the interests of the entire citizens of the state,” the NLC said, stressing that the governor’s action is not only a violation of the fundamental human rights of the PHCN worker but also exposes the limit of the governor’s exposure to democratic ideals.
“By any standards, what the governor did was not just barbaric, irresponsible but coming from a man of his political standing it also sends a disturbing signal to ordinary citizens who may decide to follow the governor’s example by opting for jungle justice rather than follow legal and constitutional procedures. A governor should behave differently from a tout. A street fighter is not fit enough for any public office in any decent country,” the statement said. 
The Congress stressed that Governor Wamakko must apologise publicly and do that quickly, or, in the spirit of its collective slogan of “An Injury to One Is an Injury to All,” or it will unleash series of actions to protect the integrity of not just workers in Sokoto State, but that of the generality of Nigerian workers.
“Congress is therefore putting every worker in both the public and private sectors in Sokoto State on notice by directing all unions to commence mobilization towards a solidarity action by the entire workers of the state against this barbaric act by the governor, if he does not accede to the demand of the union to apologise,” the statement said.

Wamakko described the allegation that he beat up some officials of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as a “political joke.”

Two officials of PHCN in Sokoto claimed that the governor allegedly flogged them in his office for failing to provide electricity in Wamakko and other towns in the state after allegedly collecting money for the purpose.

PHCN recently carried out its threat of plunging the state in darkness at the expiration of a deadline given the governor to apologise for his alleged action, while the NLC had threatened mass action in the state if the governor failed to apologise.

While fielding questions from the press in London, the governor said the saga is typical of what Nigerians do if they want to play mischief in order to blackmail their opponents.

“It is a political joke. In Nigeria, people play politics blindfolded and resort to all kinds of mischief to blackmail their opponents”

“I have been in government for 41 years. I have no history of violence in my life and in my career. That’s all I can tell you.”

As that was not enough, Members of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, in Abia State, went on strike and withdrawn their services in Umuahia over alleged attack on them by some soldiers.

President of SSAEAC, Engr. Bede Opara, said that one of the staff attacked by the soldiers was abducted and taken to unknown destination, adding that efforts to trace his where about had been unfruitful.

Engr. Opara said though the industrial action said when the strike started that the workers would not return to work until adequate security was provided to ensure their safety and working tools.

He alleged that some soldiers beat up PHCN workers in Afara, Umuahia while on duty after vandalizing their official vehicle.

According to him, “Some soldiers, who are also PHCN customers beat up our staff and smashed the wind screen of the company vehicle because the workers went to distribute electricity bills to them. The workers have vacated their offices and will not return until security measures put in place to protect their lives.”

“One of the workers was taken away by the soldiers and efforts are being made to know his whereabouts since other workers have vowed not to return to work till the intervention of higher authority.”

He said that the two unions of SSAEAC and the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, had taken steps to report the incident to the management of the company to prevent future occurrence. And if you think that was all, then read how Air Force Men invade PHCN Ilesa over blackout on March 11, 2013. Daily Newswatch gathered that Airmen from the Air Force Institute of Safety, Ipetu-Ijesa, Osun State stormed the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, office on Isokun Street, Ilesa and attacked staff of the company on duty.

According to report, about eight airmen who came in a pick-up van pounced on the staff of PHCN beating them black and blue before five of them were bundled into their van and driven away from the area.

The offence of the PHCN staff was that the Airforce Institute of Safety, Ipetu-Ijesa had been without electricity for five days prior to the attack. Further checks revealed that some of the staff sustained injuries.

Waheed Lawal, Chairman, Civil Societies Coalition, Osun, described the attack on the PHCN as barbaric and totally uncalled for given the fact that the issue of power outages is beyond the men that were unjustly attacked.

 “Inasmuch as we do not support unnecessary power outages, the attack on the PHCN staff by the airmen was barbaric, inhuman and totally uncalled for. It is not the fault of the workers that the power situation is as bad as it is presently. And that is why we are calling on the Federal government to demonstrate commitment to tackling the energy crisis facing this country in a holistic manner.”
Lawal said such an incident is not acceptable in a democratic society.  

 “This is a democratic setting and military men must learn how to be civil when dealing with people in the larger society. We have moved away from military rule and the jackboot mentality should be done away with completely.” he said.