An Ebonyi State High Court sitting in the Afikpo Judicial Division at Afikpo, has sentenced four persons, Ikechukwu Esseh, Ikedinachi Uche, Ukpai Godwin, and Uchenna Kalu to seven years imprisonment following their conviction on a three-count charge of conspiracy, vandalism, and stealing.
The convicts were arrested on 28th November 2023, for attacking a 7.5MVA Injection Substation belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC), located at Education Board Road, Afikpo, in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
The presiding Judge, Justice Nicholas Nwode, after carefully reviewing all evidence presented before him and considering the high incidence of vandalism and stealing of electrical installations in Afikpo, sentenced the accused to five years imprisonment on count one, seven years imprisonment on count two, and five-year imprisonment on count three, to run concurrently without option of fine.
Reacting to the development in Enugu on Wednesday, the Group Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh expressed the EEDC’s commendation of the judiciary for the judgement and appealed for speedy trial of other pending matters.
According to him, the judgement will serve as a deterrent to others, who may engage in such criminal act.
The company equally appreciated the efforts of the General Youth President and Afikpo Task Force Team for mobilizing to apprehend these vandals, a clear indication of community support and collaboration in the protection of electricity infrastructure.
Ezeh appealed to customers to support efforts aimed at safeguarding installations in their neighborhood.
He lamented on how activities of vandals have negatively impacted the company’s operations and the quality of service delivered to its customers.
“As a result, we continue to commit scarce resources to restore vandalised equipment – funds that would ordinarily be channeled to other areas of our operations that will benefit our customers,” Ezeh noted.
He urged customers to remain vigilant and protect electricity installations in their neighborhoods from vandalism, warning that such incidents inevitably lead to service failure and inconvenience.
