Victor Akinkuolie Ado Ekiti
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Chairman of the  Ado Ekiti Residents’ Consumers Association (ARCA), Dr. Ibukun Ogundipe , has petitioned the security agencies, calling for their interventions in the lingering electricity crisis which he said had led to alleged threat of his life, by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company.

The Hope Metro gathered that Ogundipe, who had led several protests against BEDC for allegedly imposing  ‘frivolous and outrageous bills on the residents,’ urged  the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Bello Ahmed and  the Director of Department of State Services(DSS), Mr. Precious  Ihenacho  to wade in and prevent those plotting to kill him from realising the dastardly mission.

In the petition dated November 12, 2018 and addressed  to the security chiefs , he appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris to investigate those that are after his life and also provide security cover for him and members of his family.

It was also learnt that Ogundipe explained  how a letter  from anonymous source and dropped at the gate of his residence at Awedele, Ado Ekiti capital city on November 9, 2018, had warned him to be wary of the BEDC, on the premise that they were already gathering information about how to deal with him.

The petition stated: “I have been leading this registered association to take some lawful actions to checkmate the outrageous and excessive bills which the BEDC serves on the people every month.

“These action no doubt did not go down well with BEDC . It is expedient to note that the National Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC) had set  guidelines for discos not to charge houses on R2 and C1 categories beyond N3,100 and N3,600 respectively on monthly basis as against N12,000 being paid and my people have been following this template set by NERC.

Also addressing the pressmen on the issue, the school administrator said the fight over arbitrary billing was not a personal issue between him and the BEDC but was done to prevent unnecessary cheating of Nigerians .

Ogundipe added that the association which was registered with Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC) with number CAC/TT/113270 was formed to protect Ekiti consumers from being cheated and that nothing will prevent them from achieving the task.

“After holding the March 25, 2018 public protest.  BEDC reported me to Ewi of Ado Ekiti that I wrote a petition to NHRC to indict them on how they have been infringing on our rights, but they later found this untrue.

“The DSS also met with our executive and BEDC on November 9, 2018 to mediate on this issue and the second day , they came to drop this threat letter in my house as a threat”, he said.

When The Hope Metro contacted the management of BEDC on their reaction to the petition, the company’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kayode Brown, said the company is a responsible one and will not descend to the arena of threat in dealing with an issue that had been resolved by DSS.

“We are licensed to operate in Nigeria and if we have any problem with anybody, Dr. Ogundipe inclusive, we will handle it legally using security agencies and court of law.

“We were not responsible for this threat and I want to say that  Dr. Ogundipe should look elsewhere rather than BEDC for those hiding under this situation to threaten him”, he said.