For the second time in recent months, Nigerian military personnel have been accused of attacking electricity distribution workers over power supply disputes.

In the early hours of 14 March 2025, soldiers from the Nigerian Army?s 15th Field Engineers Regiment in Topo Town, Badagry, allegedly stormed the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco) Badagry Injection Substation, abducting two staff members.

Sunday Oduntan, Managing Director at the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the umbrella body for all electricity distribution companies in Nigeria, stated that the soldiers took the Distribution System Operator (DSO) and a Proton Security Officer to their barracks, where they were beaten before being released at around 4 a.m.

?Their claim was poor electricity supply to their barracks in the last one week, despite the fact that their Commanding Officer, Lt Col S. Lawan, was duly informed of the ongoing Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) upgrade in Agbara,? Oduntan said.

He explained that power restoration efforts were made, but the feeder tripped due to excess load.

This latest incident follows an attack by personnel from the Nigerian Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos, on Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (Ikeja Electric) workers. That assault, reportedly over the disconnection of power to the base, involved the vandalisation of Ikeja Electric?s head office and the brutalisation of its staff.

The repeated military interference in electricity distribution has raised concerns among industry stakeholders, who are calling for urgent government intervention to prevent further attacks on power sector workers. (Sunday Vanguard: Text, Excluding Headline)

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