Spokesman of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Malam Ahmed Shekarau has taken a petition written to the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Consumer Protection Council (CPC) by residents of Chibiri in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) personal against a journalist.
In a statement refuting the allegation contained in the petition which was duly signed by Chibiri Community leaders, Shekarau rather blamed the whole thing on an innocent journalist whom he said “goes by the name Yusuf Ozi Usman.”
The spokesman, who insisted that AEDC staff whom the petitioners alleged have extorted money from them and still went ahead to disconnect them, said that the “report was an spirited attempt by a persistent debtor-customer who goes by the name Yusuf Ozi-Usman, to tarnish the reputation of our Company.”
The full statement is reproduced here:
Our attention has been drawn to a news report online in which some unnamed staff of the Kuje Area Office of our Company were accused of wrongful disconnection of electricity customers in Chibiri Community of the area.
In the news report titled “Abuja Residents Raise Alarm Over Alleged Fraud, Illegal Mass Disconnection By Disco”, the unnamed staff of the Kuje Area Office of AEDC were also accused of “extorting money from the customers without remitting it to the company even as they still go ahead to disconnect the same consumers.”
The report alluded to a petition addressed to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) in which the Chibiri Community accused AEDC officials of “illegally” disconnecting paying and non-paying customers, including those who have prepaid meters in their homes and business premises.
However, our investigation has shown that the news report was a spirited attempt by a persistent debtor-customer who goes by the name Yusuf Ozi-Usman, to tarnish the reputation of our Company by casting aspersions on our staff who disconnected him for failing to pay over N47,000 which he has been owing for several months.
The said Yusuf Ozi-Usman, an online Blogger who runs a Blog called “Greensbarge Reporters,” had solicited the intervention of the Head of Public Relations & Media of our Company, Ahmed Shekarau, to get his house reconnected by our Kuje Area Office, in spite of his outstanding debt.
For instance, in an SMS message pleading for reconnection of his house sent to the Head of PR & Media of our Company on June 23, 2016, Mr. Ozi-Usman had written thus: “Ya Ustaz, Assalam. I live at plot 343
Chibiri, opposite Primary Sch. Chibiri, Kuje. I still appeal for advet (SIC). Tanx.”
In another SMS message to our spokesperson on June 24, 2016, the debtor-customer wrote, thus: “Assalam. Tnx 4 the prompt action u took but after paying the reconnection fee I’m yet to be connected (SIC). That is even (SIC) d total amount I’m owing now (SIC) N17,250 which I will clear at once end of the month. Again tnx and pls complete today what u started yesterday. Ozi.”
However, by Friday, July 1, 2016, Mr. Ozi-Usman who had failed to fulfil his earlier pledge to settle his outstanding debts by end of June, 2016, sent another SMS to our spokesperson which reads thus: “I
humbly bring to ur notice that since Monday that I paid my bill one Ahmed had denied me joy of enjoying light by disconnecting almost five houses including mine. This man may throw d entire (SIC) ur company into disarray. Pls take urgent action. Ozi in Chibiri.”
Not quite an hour after he sent that SMS, the Blogger sent another message to Mr. Shekarau in which he said: “It is now clear that conspiracy is going on in Kuje AEDC to frustrate people paying bills and make those not paying to laugh at them. I have given enough.”
Although the AEDC’s head of PR & Media was making efforts to get Mr. Ozi-Usman’s home reconnected on compassionate grounds, for reasons best known to him, Mr. Ozi-Usman, went on to write and syndicate the news report with the above title.
It is pertinent to state that all through his conversations with our spokesman, including the Kuje Area Manager who had been introduced to him by Mr. Shekarau, at no point did Mr. Ozi-Usman mention the purported petition, which was alluded to in the news report.
We, therefore, wish to state without equivocation that the allegations contained in that news report are not only false but also unfounded and figments of the imagination of the writer. It is very unfortunate
that a newsman who is a watchdog on the society will tow this path after failing to fulfil his own obligation of settling his electricity bill as a customer of a Company.
It is pertinent to state here that as a Company, AEDC has tremendous respect for the media, whose partnership it cherishes towards building a viable power sector for Nigeria. However, we wish to state that we will not succumb to obvious intimidation and coercion by any member of such a valued stakeholder. [myad]
