Group condemns attack on public utilities in the South East

AGROUP, the Int’l Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law ( Intersociety), yesterday, condemned the rising spate of attacks on critical public utilities across the South East.

It specifically condemned last Sunday’s burning of the administrative headquarters of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company ( EEDC) located at Ogidi in Idemili North Local Council of Anambra State.

In the coordinated attacks, some buildings located in the Idemili North Council Headquarters, including its administrative offices, the area’s magistrate court, the EEDC building and some vehicles, were set ablaze, even as other properties were either vandalised or razed.

In a statement by the group’s principal officers, Emeka Umeagbalasi and Obianuju Igboeli, made available to reporters in Enugu, Intersociety stated that unlike other acts of violence across the South East, “questionably and controversially blamed on the Eastern Security Network ( ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB) by security operatives, the latest attack had been blamed on violent agitators.”

It added: “It is also on record that some critical public utilities such as those providing banking, health, educational, telecommunications, water and electricity supplies and services in Nigeria, especially in the South East, have, in recent years, been targeted for burning or destruction by both state and non- state actors.

“Cases abound where security forces have been suspected to have remotely carried out such attacks for purpose of framing or criminalising nonstate actors.