Benin Disco wants to kill me, Ekiti consumers’ chair petitions IG, DSS

The Chairman of the Ado Ekiti Residents’ Consumers Association (ARCA), Dr Ibukun Ogundipe, has petitioned the security agencies in the state to investigate alleged threat to his life by officials of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

Some of the consumers, led by Ogundipe, had confronted the company over alleged imposition of “frivolous and outrageous” bills on them.”

In his petition dated November 12, 2018 and addressed to all the security chiefs, the ARCA Chairman pleaded with the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, to investigate those he said were after his life and to provide security cover for him and members of his family.

He stated that on November 9, 2018, a letter from an anonymous source was dropped at the gate of his residence at Awedele, Ado Ekiti warning him to be wary of the BEDC on the premise it was already gathering information on how to deal with him.

The petition stated, “The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had set guidelines for discos not to charge houses on R2 and C1 categories beyond N3,100 and N3,600 respectively on monthly basis as against N12,000 being paid and my people have been following this template set by the NERC.

“I have been the motivating factor behind the association’s hitherto actions against frivolous bills by the BEDC. This may be a reason for why the BEDC would want to eliminate me,” he stated.

But responding, the BEDC Public Relations Officer, Mr Kayode Brown, said “We are licensed to operate in Nigeria and if we have any problem with anybody, Dr Ogundipe inclusive, we will handle it legally using security agencies and court of law. We were not responsible for this threat and I want to say that Dr Ogundipe should look elsewhere rather than the BEDC for those hiding under this situation to threaten him.”