The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has confirmed that military personnel invaded its substation in the early hours of Friday, March 14, 2025, and abducted two of its staff members. The staff members were later released following the assault.
In a statement on Sunday, the General Manager of Corporate Communications and Strategy at EKEDC Babatunde Lasaki, revealed that the military personnel cited a prolonged power outage as the reason for their actions. The outage was linked to an ongoing project upgrade at the Agbara facility of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which had already been communicated to the commanding officer of the nearby Topo Barracks, Lt. Col. S.L. Lawn.
Lasaki detailed the incident, explaining that at approximately 1:00 am on Friday, soldiers from the 15th Field Engineer Regiment, Topo Barracks, Badagry, forcefully entered the substation. During the raid, they abducted the distribution substation operator and a security personnel on duty. Both individuals were reportedly subjected to physical assault, resulting in injuries.
Despite the assault, Lasaki confirmed that no infrastructure was destroyed during the invasion. The staff members were released in the early hours of Friday, and the incident has since been reported to the police. EKEDC has also submitted a formal complaint to the military high command in Abuja.
This is not the first such incident, as a similar attack occurred on March 6, when personnel of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) invaded the premises of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) over a disconnection issue at the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos. During that incident, NAF personnel vandalized IKEDC’s office, assaulted staff members, and stole several company assets.
EKEDC has called for accountability, highlighting the need for proper channels to address grievances rather than resorting to violence and abductions.
