BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), have threatened to shut down the supply and distribution of electricity across the country.
The unions said that planned action followed the unlawful invasion and assault on their members by personnel of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).
Members of the unions embarked on a peaceful protest at the State Police Command headquarters against the alleged unlawful invasion and assault on their members at the Bauchi Operations office by men of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Bauchi Operations Base.
The protesting electricity unions members declared that if the identified personnel of the Nigerian Air Force are not prosecuted in line with the relevant laws of the country within the shortest possible time, they will completely shut down electricity supply in the country.
The NUEE members who trooped to the Police Command displaying placards with various inscriptions and chanting solidarity songs, demanded justice for their members.
Addressing the aggrieved members, the Deputy President-General (North) of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), Comrade Rilwanu Shehu, appealed to them to remain calm and pursue the case logically and peacefully.
Shehu said; “The NAF personnel maltreated ten of our members, locked them and intimidated them to reconnect supply. Now, they are receiving medical attention to ascertain their health status”.
“They abandoned them in the bush, we had to send a vehicle to convey them back to the office and then to the hospital for treatment”.
Shehu further said that the NAF is owing JED over one billion naira for electricity consumption over the years, adding that no efforts were made to settle the debt yet, the staff members were intimidated.
According to him; “This is not the first time personnel of the Nigerian Air Force are harassing and intimidating our members. They recently did it in Ikeja and here now. We are not to be treated as animals.
“If the NAF have the guns, we have the supply. We have the biggest legal backing to disconnect whatever we are supplying you, in as much as you say you are not going to comply.
“It is not by force to give you supply. It is by your payment. Because we are business. We buy these products to ensure that other communities enjoy.
“But, you cannot just consume the energy simply because you have a gun and humiliate our workers. You will not pay, if I disconnect you, you say you will not pay. That doesn’t work.
“The Nigerian Air Force played their own role, and we are going to show them that we know how to solve the problem by ourselves. After this period, if the problem is not solved within the shortest time possible, we are going to escalate it to the national. And that can even move for an indefinite strike until our people are protected.
“Our people must work in an environment that will be safe. Nobody has the right to humiliate us. Nobody has the right to tamper with what we have as business people. Our staff must be safe wherever they are,” he stressed.
Shehu further said that the issue is being handled at the top as all relevant agencies have been informed about the happening, adding that the members are waiting for further instructions.
According to Shehu; “The Defence Minister, Office of the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Air Staff and others have been duly informed and are studying the development”.
Also speaking, the State Branch Chairman of NUEE, Sikamta Ali Mshelinga, expressed displeasure over the incident saying that it was a barbaric behaviour by the NAF personnel.
Mshelinga said the members will remain at home in the next few days until the situation is resolved, stressing that at it stand now, the members are feeling insecured and afraid to perform their official duties.
“Those NAF personnel must be fished out and appropriately tried in order to serve as deterrent for others who may want to do same just because they have guns and are in authority,” he demanded.
