Nigeria, April 8, 2016 – What could have been a bloody clash between officials of EKO DISCOS and residents of Lagos Island was on Thursday averted by the Community Development Coordinating Committee (CDC) in the local government over epileptic power supply.
The CDC which comprises all Community Development Associations (CDAs) in Lagos Island quickly intervened by persuading the aggrieved residents who were determined to lynch EKO DISCO officials seen going about the streets on the Island.
Some CDA chairmen who became aware of the resolution immediately convened an emergency meeting of CDC members and later went to appeal to the residents to shield their swords.
These forced all the CDC members to stage a peaceful protest to EKO Electricity Power Distribution head office at Marina, Lagos with placards that carry inscriptions like, ‘We say NO to estimated bills’ Deliberate darkness on the Island is a crime to humanity’.
Other inscriptions are, ‘Eko distribution is Eko failure’, ‘We are fed-up with your flimsy excuses of flooding, cable theft, financial incapability, Problems are to be solve’, ‘No card meters, No payments’, ‘Go back to ECN’, ‘Stop exploiting the exploited residents’ among others.
At Eko distribution, the protesters were stopped by the security men but later allowed the CDC chairman, Alhaji Buari Abdulmalik, Secretary; Mr. Idowu Adamson, Alhaji Raheem Adeniji, Chairman, Obadina CDA and two others to meet with the heads of the company, which included Mrs. Iyela, Mr. Bamiro and Mr. Salami respectively behind closed door.
The meeting however yielded positive results as parties agreed that there should be no more disconnection of consumers until power supply is normalized. Consumers who had already paid for the pre-paid meters and have receipts were told to approach Eko distribution and collect their metres within 24 hours.
Parties agreed that the next bills should be handed over to the CDC chairman, who will now call all CDA representatives to vet and agree before distribution to the public. The protesters later left Marina and walk through Nnamdi-Azikwe Street to Idumota to inform all residents of their outcome with Eko distribution and appealed to them to abide with the new resolution.
