MOSOGAR DARKNESS: BARR. GLADIUS O. ERAKPOTOBOR FILES SUIT AGAINST BEDC AND NERC OVER CONTINUOUS DARKNESS AT FEDERAL HIGH COURT ASABA

By Ovie Bethel

Barr. Gladius Oghenero Erakpotobor has filed law suit against the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over the protracted darkness in Mosogar Kingdom,at the Federal High Court Asaba.

AFFIDAVIT OF GLADIUS OGHENERO ERAKPOTOBOR,ESQ, (FOR HIMSELF & ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF MOSOGAR COMMUNITY IN ETHIOPE WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF DELTA STATE OF NIGERIA) IN SUPPORT OF ORIGINATING SUMMONS.

Gladius Oghenero Erakpotobor,Esq. A legal practitioner,male Christian,Nigeria Citizen,human rights activist,a bonafide Indigene of Mosogar Community in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria do hereby make oat and state as follows;

1. That I am the plaintiff herein and a customer of the 1st Defendant by virtue of which I am conversant with the fact of the case
2. That I am a bona fide Indigene of Mosogar Community in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria and I have the consent and the authority of the people of Mosogar Community to depose to this affidavit for myself and on their behalf.
3. That I am a concern Indigene of Mosogar Community,a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a human rights activist.That I brought this suit for myself and on behalf of the people of Mosogar Community.
4. That the 1st Defendant is a public limited liability company duly registered under the company law in Nigeria and licensed by the 2nd Defendant to provide electricity services to its customers.It is one of the successor distribution companies (DisCos) created following the unbundling and privatization of the state-owned Power Utility, Holding Company of Nigeria Plc. It is responsible for retail distribution of electricity supply in Delta, Edo, Ekiti and Ondo States as it area of Supply and franchise.
5. That the 2nd Defendant is an independent regulatory body with authority for the regulation of the electric power industry in Nigeria. It is the regulatory Agency of the 1st Defendant with the power to sanction the 1st Defendant for violation of it regulations, codes, standards of operations and customer’s rights etc.
6. That I am a law abiding citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and also passionately interested in the affairs/welfare of my people, Mosogar People in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria.
7. That I have the interest and well-being of Mosogar community and it indigenes at heart at all times. And I truly believe in the growth and development of the community.
8. That I know as a fact that Electricity supply constitutes one of the basic necessities for a comfortable wellbeing and takes a high premium in modern societies.
9. That as concerned indigene of Mosogar Community, I am greatly affected by the wrongful, illegal and unjustified mass disconnection of electricity supply to the community by the 1st Defendant and thus keeping the community in darkness and total blackout for over nine (9) years now till date despite repeated demands.
10. On or about August 2012, the 1st Defendant wrongfully, illegally and unjustifiably disconnected electricity supply to the Plaintiff community without any notice of disconnection as required by law and since then the 1st Defendant has willfully and maliciously refused, failed and neglected to reconnect/restore light to the Plaintiff community despite repeated demands for over 9 years till date.
11. That all effort by the Plaintiff community to get the 1st Defendant to reconnect/restore light back to the community has failed as the 1st Defendant has remains adamant and bluntly refused to do so, and as a result, the Plaintiff community has been in complete darkness and total blackout for over nine (9) years now till date despite repeated demands/entreaties.
12. That I know as a fact that by sections 5 and 9 of NERC’s Connection and Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services, 2007, for any distribution company to disconnect customer’s power supply, the distribution company must issue a Written Notice of Disconnection to their customer as per section 9 of the NERC’s Connection and Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services, 2007; without which any disconnection of customer’s power supply becomes illegal.
13. That I also know as a fact that the existence of a debt or unpaid bills per se does not extinguish the protection accorded to customer by virtue of sections 5(1)(d)(e)(f) and 9 of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC’s) Connection and Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services, 2007 and section (7)(4) of the NERC’s Customer Complaints Handling: Standards and Procedures, 2006 and section 1 and 4 of the NERC’s Customer Service Standards of Performance for Distribution Companies, 2007 as it carries a number of safeguards, which must be complied with before any distribution company could lawfully so to speak, go on a frenzy of disconnecting customer’s electricity supply to their homes. The NERC’s Connection and Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services, 2007 and the NERC’s Customer Complaints Handling: Standards and Procedures, 2006; and the NERC’s Customer Service Standards of Performance for Distribution Companies, 2007 which I downloaded and printed out from the 2nd Defendant official website at www.nerc.gov.ng in the internet with my Infinix S4 phone which is working perfectly okay at the time of printing same are hereto attached and marked as EXHIBIT A, B & C respectively.
14. That I know as fact that the 1st Defendant did not comply with the provisions of EXHIBIT A, B & C respectively above, when it disconnects electricity supply to the Plaintiff community.
15. That I know as a fact that in Nigeria, under the ELECTRIC POWER SECTOR REFORM ACT, 2005 and the various NERC’S Regulations made pursuant thereto and the FEDERAL COMPETITION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 2018 all Electricity consumers have the following rights:

*.Right to electricity supply in a safe and reliable manner.

• Right to a properly installed and functional meter.
• Right to be properly informed and educated on the electricity service.
• Right to transparent electricity billing.
• Right to be issued with electricity bills strictly based on NERC’s estimated billing methodology where the customer is unmetered.
• All Un-metered customers should be issued with electricity bills strictly based on NERC’s estimated billing methodology.
• It is the customer’s right to be notified in writing ahead of disconnection of electricity service by the DisCo serving the customer in line with NERC’s guidelines.
• Right to refund when over billed.
• Right to file complaints and to the prompt investigation of complaints.
• Right to send all complaints on electricity supply and other billing issues to the nearest business unit of the DisCo serving the customer.
• Right to escalate the issue, when not satisfactorily addressed by the business unit of the DisCo to NERC Forum Office within the coverage area of the DisCo.
• Right to appeal the decision of NERC Forum Office by writing a petition to the NERC.
  It is the customer’s right to contest any electricity bill.
• Any un-metered customer who is disputing his or her estimated bill has the right not to pay the disputed bill, but pay only the last undisputed bill as the contested bill go through the dispute resolution process of NERC.

1. It is not the responsibility of electricity customer or community to buy, replace or repair electricity transformers, poles and related equipment used in the supply of electricity but that of the Distribution Company (DisCo).
2. That the 1st Defendant contravene, breaches and violated the above electricity consumer rights, laws and Regulations when it wrongfully and in an unjustified manner disconnected electricity supply to the Plaintiff Community without the service of the appropriate three (3) months mandatory statutory notices required by law to be serve on the customer/consumer before disconnection of his premises can take place.
3. That I know as a fact that in spite of the bad situation of the light in the Plaintiff community, some officials of the 1st Defendant in connivance with the 1st Defendant has extorted several funds from members of the Plaintiff community by promising to reconnect light to the community within few days if the Plaintiff community pays certain amount of money to the 1st Defendant which the Plaintiff community members usually tax themselves and contribute the money and paid to the 1st Defendant and yet to no avail and nothing is done.
4. That I also know as fact that some of the 1st Defendant officials has turned the miserable light situation in the Plaintiff community into an avenue of extorting money frequently in connivance with the 1st Defendant from members of the Plaintiff community.
5. That so far the 1st Defendant officials have illegally extorted several millions of naira (amounting to about N30,000,000.00 (Thirty million naira) from members of the Plaintiff community in connivance with the 1st Defendant in the guise/pretense to buy transformers, poles, repair and replace faulty equipment etc to enable them reconnect/restore light to the Plaintiff community yet to no avails and no refund of the said funds has been made to the Plaintiff community nor electricity reconnected/restored to the Plaintiff community up till date despite collecting several money from members of the plaintiff community and repeated promises by the 1st Defendant and it staffs to do so till date.
6. That on 24th day of September, 2021, I wrote a letter dated 23rd September, 2021 to the 1st Defendant and copied same to the 2nd Defendant respectively demanding reconnection/restoration of light to the Plaintiff community by the 1st Defendant. A copy of the said letter is herein attached and marked as EXHIBIT D.
7. That I sent the said letter through DHL courier service to the 1st and 2nd Defendants on 24th day of September, 2021 and same was delivered on 30th September, 2021 to the 1st and 2nd Defendants respectively. A copy of the DHL waybills and proof of delivery of the said letter are herein attached and marked as EXHIBIT E.
8. That despite the receipt of EXHIBIT D by the 1st Defendant, the 1st Defendant neither reply to same nor reconnect/restore light to the Plaintiff community up till date.
9. That upon the receipt of EXHIBIT D, by the 2nd Defendant, the 2nd Defendant wrote a reply to me in a letter dated 3rd November, 2021 wherein they informed us that our complaint has been forwarded to the 1st Defendant for necessary action and further assured us that the matter will be attended to but yet nothing has been done up till date as the Plaintiff community is still in darkness till date. A copy of the said 2nd Defendant reply letter dated 3rd November, 2021 is herein attached and marked as EXHIBIT F.
10. That upon receipt of EXHIBIT F, on 19th day of November, 2021, I forwarded a complaint vide mail to the 2nd Defendant Asaba Forum Office through the email address provided by the 2nd Defendant to me in EXHIBIT F but yet still no response up till date.
11. That despite several correspondences, emails, phone calls, emissaries and entreaties for the 1st Defendant to reconnect/restored light to the Plaintiff community, the 1st Defendant has refuse, fail and neglect to do so up till date. Hence the Plaintiff institute this suit before this Honourable court to compel the 1st Defendant to do so in the interest of justice, fairness, equity and good conscience.
12. That I know as a fact that this Honourable court takes judicial notice of every laws in Nigeria and that EXHIBIT A, B and C respectively, can be judicially noticed by this Honourable Court.
13. That the 1st and 2nd Defendants have custody of EXHIBIT A, B and C respectively, and can readily avail this Honouorable Court of copies of these laws. That the 1st and 2nd Defendants are hereby put on notice to produce EXHIBIT A, B and C respectively, before this Honourable court.
14. That notwithstanding EXHIBIT A, B, C, D, E and F respectively the 1st Defendant have failed, refused and neglected to reconnect/restore light to Mosogar community in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria as enjoined by the laws.
15. That till this moment people of Mosogar community in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria are still living in darkness as they have been denied access to electricity supply by the 1st Defendant for over 9 years now till date which is their basic right and necessity and this has worked great hardship to me and the people of Mosogar community in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria.
16. That the 1st Defendant have deliberately flouted the provisions of Section 5 and 9 of EXHIBIT A which provide for the service of notice of disconnection of electricity supply to a customer premises before disconnection can take place and other applicable laws in that regard by disconnecting light from the Plaintiff community and deliberately refusing, failing and neglecting to reconnect/restore light back to the Plaintiff community for over 9 years now till date despite repeated demands.
17. That Mosogar community is one of the communities in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria under the franchise of the 1st Defendant and entitled to electricity supply by the 1st Defendant as enjoined by the law.
18. That by EXHIBIT A, B and C respectively, the Plaintiff community as customer/consumer is entitled to electricity supply by the 1st Defendant.
19. That this case requires the interpretation and construction of EXHIBIT A, B and C respectively and other applicable laws in that regard.
20. That relying on EXHIBIT A,B and C respectively,this Honourable court can give effect to and enforce the provisions contained therein and make an order granting me all the reliefs sought in this case.
21. That I want this Honourable court to interprets and construe EXHIBIT A,B and C respectively and grant all the reliefs sought in this application in my favour.
22. That I brought this suit (a) challenging the constitutional and statutory basis for the mass disconnection of electricity supply to Mosogar Community by the 1st Defendant and (b) seeking declaration and perpetual injuctive orders of the Honourable court against the Defendants in this regards.
23. That the Defendant will lose nothing if the reliefs sought by the Plaintiff in the suit are granted as the Plaintiff is only taking steps to aenforce and safeguard its right under EXHIBIT A,B and C respectively and other applicable laws in Nigeria
24. That this application shall not prejudice the Defendants in anyway as same is brought in the interest of justice, Fairness and respect for rule of law.
25. That this affidavit is made in good faith, solemnly and conscientiously believing the facts to be correct and in accordance with the provisions of the Oaths Act 2011.

More from Metro

---