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The Electricity Distribution Company has cried out over the invasion of its corporate headquarters by men and officers of the Nigerian Air Force from the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos State on Thursday.

The soldiers who also brutalised a correspondent of PUNCH Newspapers, Dare Olawin, and other journalists who were on the premises for an assignment during their period, invaded the premises on the expiration of the ultimatum given to the Disco to reconnect their power supply which was disconnected because of a debt of N4bn.

PUNCH Metro reports that they stormed the Disco headquarters opposite MITV, Ikeja, Lagos around 7:40 am loaded in a military truck, two OP-MESA vehicles, and others.

The journalists were to gather at Ikeja to proceed to Adiyan in Ogun State to unveil a solar project.

Our correspondent, alongside a TVC cameraman and one other reporter, was sighted in a coaster bus by the military men.

They were dragged out to be beaten blue and black and made to sit on the floor.

Our correspondent’s phones and a white power bank were taken away by the men who threatened to shoot him if he tried to say anything.

A tripod belonging to the TVC cameraman and a memory card were also taken away by the men. Our correspondent sustained an injury in his left eye in the process.

The Air Force operatives led by a woman and some men in mufti seized the office of Ikeja Electric for over one and a half hours, beating the workers and other people sighted on the premises.

The roads leading to the office were blocked, giving the military men a field day to molest those within the premises of Ikeja Electric.

They left the office with engineers and drivers who they said would be forced to reconnect their barracks to the national grid.

The spokesman for the IKEDC, Kingsley Okotie, said the company had to disconnect the feeder supplying electricity to the base after its electricity bills accumulated to N4bn.

Okotie explained how the men in the military camouflage vandalised doors, CCTV cameras, and other gadgets in the office.

“In my young adult life, I witnessed something that I had never seen today by men of the Nigeria Air Force from Sam Ethnan Base, Ikeja, who are our customers. Because of the electricity supply and issues of indebtedness, they invaded us, beat us up, and carted away our laptops. They destroyed the entire corporate headquarters of our business, as well as our Oshodi office, the business unit, and other locations around Oshodi that service the Air Force base.

“It is on record that in the last 10 years, their bill has accumulated to over N4bn. I repeat, N4bn. And arrangements for payment in terms of even servicing their electricity bill have been abortive.

“They feel that it’s their entitlement to use electricity for free. And we have reminded them several times that we don’t get government subvention in this organisation. It’s a privatised entity. As such, it is clear that most of the things that appear to be inefficiencies on our part are because of people like the Air Force base and the debt they owe the business. Because if that kind of debt is owed by just one institution, imagine how much that would have gone in terms of relief to places where they need transformers and other facilities to improve supply,” Okotie said.

According to him, instead of coming to the table, as they had always done with them, they resorted to attacks.

Okotie disclosed that “sometime in October, the AOC Ademulegun intervened on behalf of the base commander, and we had some level of agreements, which we implemented. But what they tactically did was to deny our technicians access to the facility so that they could manipulate that installation within the base. So, the regulated hours that they would get supplied based on what they could pay for was exceeded. That is an infraction. That is unlawful. That is criminal.”

The spokesperson disclosed that the Air Force had on Wednesday written the company, ordering it to reconnect the base within 48 hours or face the consequences.

“They came to attack us after writing us barely yesterday, giving us a 48-hour ultimatum to reconnect them. Is this no more a democracy?

“I’m limping now. You saw them checking my vitals earlier. A lot of people were brutalised, harassed and beaten. Even journalists who came around earlier were seriously beaten. A PUNCH reporter Dare Olawin was brutalised and his phones were taken away. A TVC reporter had his tripod, camera, and memory card taken away. They went away with 15 of our operational vehicles and abducted them at gunpoint with the drivers. Where they marched them to, we didn’t know.